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| 1565849930
| 9781565849938
| 1565849930
| 3.95
| 24,863
| 1994
| Sep 19, 2006
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it was amazing
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Book Review The second review of two crime novels whose titles hint at laughter and joy, Mankell's novel The Man Who Smiled is in my opinion the best t Book Review The second review of two crime novels whose titles hint at laughter and joy, Mankell's novel The Man Who Smiled is in my opinion the best to date in the Wallander series. In the first review, we discovered the significance of how morose Martin Beck finally came to emit a burst of laughter in the last paragraph of that novel: The Laughing Policeman. I find this significant. Let's face it: laughter, joy, humor, these are not exactly the words I would describe as pertinent to Nordic crime novels (with the possible exception of Jussi Adler-Olson's Department Q novels). Granted, some of the humor is lost in tranlation, as Jo Nesbo recently stated in an interview here on Goodreads. And as I mentioned in the Martin Beck novel of similar title, my reading these two novels in succession is entirely accidental. It just so happened that I found myself reading two scandinavian crime novels whose titles revolved around laughter even though the titles were not part of my selection process at all. I read series novels in succession, holding to the belief that authors who write series have a reason for doing so, and that one follows after the other especially in terms of ongoing character development and plot. To read them out of sequence is to miss key aspects of the ongoing story line. It's like arriving late to a meeting only to ask questions already discussed during one's absence. And it just so happened that #4 in both of these series were next in my queue. Do I think the similarity in titles between Per/Maj and Mankell's 4th in the respective series are coincidental? No, I do not. I believe this novel is Mankell's homage to the 4th in the Beck series and that the title is deliberate. Even though I've given this novel high ratings I do want to disclose something up front. Throughout the novel I was puzzled by the notion of a policeman so distraught about having to use his service revolver - one that ended up killing a criminal - that he left his police career and wandered a beach for weeks on end in obvious emotional pain. Clearly, any American policeman would frown at the notion. Here the police is trained to use their weapon, and though counseling is offered for any rightuous shooting, most policemen here would not leave their jobs as a result of having used their weapon. But, after some internal reflection I found that I, like our fictituous average American policeman, suffer from an ignorance of Scandinavia. [image] Cover of Singing Sands, a Tey novel...but what I imagine as Wallendar, walking across a lonely beach As we saw in my first review, we find that Kollberg in that Martin Beck novel is a hard-core socialist, does not believe in guns and as a result doesn't carry one in his position as a police detective. Perhaps back then, this was doable. And certainly as a crime novel this tendency served to only accentuate violent crime and the apprehension of perpetrators for the purposes of writing a crime novel. The Martin Beck novels were written some 50 years ago, when Scandinavia was relatively peaceful, non-violent, and the countries did not suffer from later infiltration of crime families and consequent crimes that include gun smuggling, drugs and human trafficking, if not the threat of terrorism itself. In his Wallander novels, Mankell clearly carries over some of these concepts from the Per and Maj novels, infusing into Wallander's character socialist tendencies (though to a lesser degree) even though these novels were written some 30 years later. In general, most Scandinavian countries today are still known as benign, social democratic wellfare states. Ystad, where most of the Wallander novels take place is still relatively peaceful, even though hints of organized crime that are already tangible in larger cities like Stockholm are beginning to filter down to smaller locales like Ystad. Service revolvers in Ystad are often found in desk drawers, rather than on the detective's person when out investigating crime. Second, Wallander's character is such that facts are easily digested by this policeman, whereas emotional consequences are not (unlike the Martin Beck series). I relegate the cause for this to the writers themselves. In the Martin Beck series, we have police procedurals written by Marxists. Emotion is downgraded, social issues upgraded, statist policies encouraged as they are applied to the masses instead of to individuals and all of it accompanied by economic vitriol of anything that smacks of capitalism: namely individual success and wealth are the result of greed. Henning Mankell is not like Beck's authors in this regard. Mankell is a humanitarian. Aside from his career as a writer, his personal life is heavily involved with his emotional ties to disenfranchised third world countries (Africa, mainly) and his view of their inhabitants is one of indivduals, not the masses. Henning Mankel is an emotional man...and consequently, so is Wallander. Firing his service pistol and killing another human being stands against everything both writer and protagonist represent. Come to think of it: high crimes, violence and a large portion of citizens incarcerated seems to be a peculiar American phenomenon and I'm not sure how well that speaks of us as a so-called free nation (another discussion). As I said: the coincidence in similar titles is no coincidence at all. Aside from the similar title Per and Maj gave The Laughing Policeman, Mankell here gives us a phenomonal police procedural (my first 5 star rating for a Wallander novel) that revolves around the idea of wiping the smile off the face of a suspected criminal. In the case of The Laughing Policeman laughter is a response to futility and exasperation. In the case of The Man Who Smiled laughter when expressed as contempt for the disenfranchised must be wiped out. Wallander is not a humerous man and he is not prone to laughter. Scandinavia frowns rather than laughs at life. Like Beck, he has trouble connecting to family. Like Beck he is morose, cannot sleep, is lonely, and is often ill at ease with his colleagues. Like the Beck novel we know who the perpetrator is early on. The Man Who Smiled also speaks to a systemic dysfunction on police teams. It speaks to the unenviable boredom and tediousness that incorporates a police team's daily work. Unlike Beck, however, Wallander is driven by emotion: by loyalty and compassion and outrage. ----------------------------------------------------- Series Review Henning Mankell is an internationally known Swedish crime writer known mostly for this fictional character Kurt Wallander. He is married to Eva Bergman. [image] Henning Mankell - Author It might be said that the fall of communism and the consequent increase in Swedish immigration and asylum seekers has been the engine that drives much of Swedish crime fiction. Mankell's social conscience, his cool attitude towards nationalism and intolerance is largely a result of the writer's commitment to helping the disadvantaged (see his theater work in Africa). In this vein, readers might be interested in his stand-alone novel Kennedy's Brain a thriller set in Africa and inspired by the AIDS epidemic (Mankell often traveled to Africa to help third world populations); or read his The Eye of the Leopard, a haunting novel juxtaposing a man's coming of age in Sweden and his life in Zambia. Mankell's love of Africa, his theater work on that continent, and his exploits in helping the disadvantaged is not generally known by his American readers. In fact, an international news story that has largely gone unnoticed is that while the world watched as Israeli soldiers captured ships attempting to break the Gaza blockade, few people are aware that among the prisoners of the Israelis was one of the world's most successful and acclaimed writers: Henning Mankell. [image] It is no exaggeration when I say that Henning Mankell is by far one of the most successful writers in Scandinavia, especially in his own country of Sweden. The Nordic weather, cold to the bones, drives its populace indoors for much of the year where cuddling up to read the latest in crime fiction is a national pastime. For many GR readers who have been introduced to Kurt Wallander it is interesting to note that ultimately the success of bringing Mankell to English speaking audiences only came after bringing in the same production company responsible for Steig Larsson's Millennium trilogy for the wildly popular BBC version starring Kenneth Branagh. Viewers had no problem with an anglicized version of Mankell's work, an English speaking cast set down in a genuine Swedish countryside. Of course, to those fans thoroughly familiar with Mankell's work, it is the Swedish televised version that is found to be a more accurately portrayal of Mankell's novels...not the British, sensationalized version. And there's a reason for that. Henning's prose is straightforward, organized, written mostly in linear fashion, a straightforward contract with the reader. It is largely quantified as police procedural work. The work of men who are dogged and patient to a fault. Kurt Wallander, the hero in Mankell's novels, is the alter ego of his creator: a lonely man, a dogged policeman, a flawed hero, out of shape, suffering from headaches and diabetes, and possessing a scarred soul. Understandably so and if some of the GR reviews are an indication; like his famous father-in-law Ingmar Bergman, Mankell is from a country noted for its Nordic gloom. But before you make the assumption that this is yet another addition to the somberness and darkness that characterizes Nordic writing Mankell often confounds this cliche with guarded optimism and passages crammed with humanity (for Mankell, this is true both personally and professionally as a writer). As Americans we often think of Sweden as possessing an very open attitude towards sex and that this is in marked contrast (or perhaps reprieve) to the somber attitudes of its populace. But this is a view that often confounds Swedish people. The idea of Nordic carnality is notably absent in Mankell's work, as much a statement of its erroneous perception (Swedes do not see themselves as part of any sexual revolution at all) and in the case of Mankell ironic because the film director most responsible for advancing these explicit sexual parameters (for his time) was his own father-in-law the great Ingmar Bergman. In a world where Bergman moves in a universe where characters are dark, violent, extreme and aggressive - take note that the ultimate root of this bloody death and ennui lies in the Norse and Icelandic Viking sagas of Scandinavian history - that dark, somber view ascribed to both Mankell and Bergman's work was often a topic of intense jovial interest between these two artists. For any reader of Nordic crime fiction, Henning Mankell is an immensely popular and staple read. Enjoy! ...more |
Notes are private!
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Jan 11, 2014
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Jan 25, 2014
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Jan 11, 2014
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Hardcover
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| 0316069353
| 9780316069359
| 0316069353
| 4.23
| 81,156
| Apr 05, 2011
| Apr 05, 2011
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really liked it
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not set
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Jan 11, 2014
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Hardcover
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| B006J0U7RG
| 4.21
| 241,009
| Oct 03, 2005
| Dec 06, 2011
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really liked it
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Jan 11, 2014
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Kindle Edition
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| 0739465511
| 9780739465516
| 0739465511
| 4.21
| 241,009
| Oct 03, 2005
| 2005
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really liked it
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Jan 11, 2014
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Paperback
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| 1611762391
| 9781611762396
| 1611762391
| 4.06
| 25,976
| Nov 10, 2010
| Dec 31, 2013
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it was amazing
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Book Review: "I'm good enough!" Carl nodded to himself. He was in no doubt she had been. Once. And so ends the story of Nete, a woman we see upon open Book Review: "I'm good enough!" Carl nodded to himself. He was in no doubt she had been. Once. And so ends the story of Nete, a woman we see upon opening the book as holding a cool delicate champagne glass in her delicate fingers, who relished the hum of voices, gazed fondly upon the palette of colorful evening gowns and proud figures and the light hand of her husband at her waist. A woman for whom the laughter of such people has since long gone. Without a doubt, Jussi Adler-Olson has stepped into the rarefied circle of top Scandinavian writers with this latest addition to his Department Q novels. This is a story that will shock you in profound ways. It is also a book that with a stroke of genius delivers the very antithesis of shock: it will have you tear up with unavoidable laughter. [image] Nete's story, a cold case delivered onto Carl MØrck's desk, will haunt readers for a long time following the reading of this novel. I still think of her in spite of the fact that I'm well into my current novel by another author. I think about how on earth it was possible for human beings to treat others as Nete was treated by the Danish mental healthcare system: a place for women who were not good enough. Careful not to editorialize, Adler-Olson scrutinizes his country's touchy affiliation with Nazi tactics (ergo, Scandinavia's moral and political implications following their so-called neutrality during and after the war), particularly where it concerns genetics and the extermination of unwanted offspring by doctors providing abortions on unwilling female patients. In The Purity of Vengeance we find the echoes of Sweden's Alva Myrdal who following her Novel Peace Prize for her work on nuclear disarmament was tarnished (rightly or wrongly) by revelations that her views on population control and social engineering were not so different from war time Germany. Adler-Olson makes all this painfully concrete through his haunting presentation of Nete's life. Having said the above, Adler-Olson is certainly not without a sense of humor (unusual for Nordic writers). This is the fourth in his Department Q series and the ongoing saga of detective superintendent Carl MØrck and his two assistants Assad and Rose will have you peeling away in laughter: particularly in this fourth book. The mystery behind Assad's life continues to be explored by both Rose and MØrck. Allegiances between this threesome continually shift as in turn, MØrck and Assad walk on pins and needles wondering if Rose's alter ego will make her appearance (see previous novels in this series). I cannot overemphasize the stroke of genius with which Adler-Olson provides his treatment of these characters. In the world of police procedurals, Adler-Olson is second to none in terms of presenting his characterization of a police department continually at odds with itself, and do it in the most delightful manner. I do not recommend reading this series out of order as the characterization builds from one novel to the other. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Series Review: [image] Jussi Adler-Olson Jussi Adler-Olsen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1950. Known for his 3 stand-alones (The alphabet House, The Company Basher, and Washington Decree and the famous Department Q novels his popularity in Denmark has finally migrated over to the U.S. All Department Q novels are set in Denmark and reveal the writings of an author intensely interested in criticizing politics while simultaenously being agnostic to parties in general. Not that this is any great revelation as for the most part politics is the mainstay of most European dinner table conversations. On this topic of politics, the author says: "If you with that ask me whether I'm critical of the political system, then yes. If you ask me whether I have a tendency to defend party-political opinions, then no. My agenda political wise is firstly to criticize regardless of what is to criticize, and no matter what the basis of view is, and secondly to appeal to the politicians in power that they should understand that they are our servants and not our masters, and that they first and foremost on their fields of activity should learn to acknowledge mistakes and to evaluate their own actions." Through his protagonist Carl MØrck, a lone detective absconded to the basement of police headquarters, heading a cold case department of one, and for all the world a detective ostracized for his unsociable and arrogant manner we bump head-on into the political machinations of Denmark's finest if not the corruption of a government beyond. Not that corruption threatens to take over the story. The author is careful about that: It's all about having and keeping empathy. If you have this ability in your writings, it will never be the corruption in itself that is the story's starting point, but the people and the relations that the corruption affects. It is as simple as that! If you want to be a writer, you have to learn to turn everything upside down. Born a son to a father with a psychiatric degree and living on the premises of such mental institutions a good portion of his life, Jussi Adler-Olsen has developed a keen insight into a human's boundlessness, self-centeredness if not the degree to which human beings can succumb to a lack of affection. If it wasn't for these issues, there wouldn't be any thriller novels in the world. And the consequences of these character flaws give me a lot to work with. Revenge, strive for justice, and insanity. As with most Nordic thrillers (Jo Nesbo, Henning Mankell, Larson, etc), there's a certain ennui that pervades the populace. Perhaps that is due to the unique form of Scandinavian democracy that today seems to be under siege by more globalistic tendencies, a slight leaning to the right that highly values the individual instead of the public society so prominent in Scandinavian countries. As with these other thriller writers, we view a somber if not morose society...practical, but not affluent in that affection mentioned by the author. We have had a very negative and sad period, but the right to criticize and reject bad ideas in their unblemished form still holds. And there is no other place on earth, in my opinion, that uses this right as frequently and thoughtfully, which I'm proud of. But what is it about novels that is captivating readers across the globe? I can only speak for myself. As always, translations must be kept in mind and my hat's off to those who attempt to translate a foreign language into English. It is an art in and of itself. Especially when one considers that it is possible to have thoughts in one language that are not possible in another. Being bilingual myself, I still wrestle with certain idioms not available to me when communicating in English. In this sense, Lisa Hartford does an excellent job in her translation from Danish to English. Indeed, in terms of immediate and enduring attention grabbing, Adler-Olsen is in the Chandler class. As with most European and Scandinavian mystery/crime novels, the causation behind the crime is usually a simple event rationalized by an unhealthy mind. I love this about Nordic thrillers...how we are brought to fully understand motivation as part of the unravelling of a mystery. You could say that this is exactly what is wrong with Hollywood where everything is sensationalized, instead of sprung forth out of ordinary life. Junior Detective Superintendent Carl MØrck has a brilliant mind and as is usually the case, brilliance inspires envy, and envy destroys achievements. The way Jussi Adler-Olsen portrays this within the Danish police force cannot be dismissed. Ever critical, he has created a character both perfectly ordinary as well as constantly critical of everything set before him. There is a quiet humor behind the man who has no qualms about doing nothing but placing his feet on his desk and complain that he is too busy...until of course he becomes interested at which point he becomes a Danish bloodhound. The plots are exquisite, driven not by the unveiling of a carefully kept ending held close to the chest by the author (I've read reviews where some partially dismiss this author for guessing the who-dun-it half way through) but rather by the unveiling of the true motivation behind the crime which gives the reader an entirely different satisfaction. Cold cases are tough and most of them are not solved. But, as Adler-Olson says: It's all about having and keeping empathy. Enjoy! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jan 2014
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Jan 07, 2014
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Jan 01, 2014
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Audio CD
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| 0316069515
| 9780316069519
| 0316069515
| 4.20
| 64,644
| Dec 02, 2013
| Dec 02, 2013
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really liked it
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Book Review First introduced in Connelly's acclaimed The Lincoln Lawyer, Mickey Haller once again steps into the courtroom to defend a client, Andre La Book Review First introduced in Connelly's acclaimed The Lincoln Lawyer, Mickey Haller once again steps into the courtroom to defend a client, Andre La Cosse, with ties to a former case Haller had worked on: the murder victim, Gloria Dayton. Gods of Guilt is a gripping story thematically wrapped around the lasting guilt that pervades a jury after rendering a verdict of guilty, though clearly we gain insight into Haller's own Gods of Guilt which he bears on his shoulders. This novel, fabulously written, never once fails to address what Connelly's readers have come to expect of this author: pure entertainment, a gripping story line, and solid characterization. For those familiar with Haller's view of defense lawyers, being one himself: There is no client as scary as an innocent man. And, in this case, Haller believes Andre to be innocent. Geographically, the story spans all the way from Century City, to LA's downtown court house, and the desert beyond as seen through the windshield of Mickey's Lincoln town car: his office. [image] On a personal level, Connelly continues to develop his primary character by Haller's coming off of a pretty big scandal that has cost him his relationship with his daughter and her mother and Haller's ongoing attempts to heal those relationships, if not his current life all together. Unlike the Scandinavian crime novels I've been reading, there's little else to say. Some books are read purely for their entertainment value, as this one is. In that regard, you really can't go wrong with Mickey Haller's courtroom dramas (beautifully done, as if you're there in the courtroom). Other crime novels, particularly those of the Nordic variety seem to satisfy additional reader expectations such as gaining socio/politico insights into Scandinavian lives, country politics and social issues, notions Connelly does not offer his readers (in my opinion). Some interesting links: Photographing Connelly's Lincoln town car --------------------------------------------------------------------- Series Review Connelly's Mickey Haller series can be likened to John Grisham's courtroom thrillers with the one notable caveat in that I think Grisham's novels have gotten steadily worse over time, whereas, Connelly's books just keep getting better. As a defense lawyer, Haller presents readers with an in-depth study of seeming legal contradictions: everyone is entitled to a defense but who in their right mind wants to represent criminals most of whom are guilty? Ranging from defending prostitutes, drug king-pins, and thieves, it is the 187's (California penal code for murder) that always get Haller's attention. Murder cases attract considerable defense funds and as Haller operates on a thin budget and holds court from the back of a Lincoln town car, it is the 187 cases that cause him to sit upright on the leather upholstered seats. Make no mistake, Connelly is extremely well-versed in putting together a gripping story, written so smoothly that readers are completely involved in the story and often stay up long before they should have gone to bed. In terms of pure entertainment value, you can't go wrong with a Connelly novel. As with his Harry Bosch series, Connelly spends an appropriate portion of each novel dealing with Haller's personal issues: issues that arise from his profession and leak over into his personal life often with unintended and harmful consequences: his former wife, his daughter, another former wife who works for him, his investigator who is tapping his ex but always delivers. Watch as Haller juggles them all into a semblance of normalcy (or not!). Empathy is served up to us, his readers, as a result. About the author [image] Michael Connelly Michael Connelly was born in Philadelphia, PA on July 21, 1956. He moved to Florida with his family when he was 12 years old. Michael decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, primarily specializing in the crime beat. In 1986, he and two other reporters spent several months interviewing survivors of a major airline crash. They wrote a magazine story on the crash and the survivors which was later short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. The magazine story also moved Connelly into the upper levels of journalism, landing him a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest papers in the country, and bringing him to the city of which his literary hero, Chandler, had written (this, taken from his bio). Famous for his Hieronymus Bosch novels, Connelly is one of the few authors who has successfully created another series - termed as legal thrillers - and very competitive as compared to his primary Harry Bosch series - Harry being Mickey's half brother. Not easy to do for series writers but going towards Connelly's fifty million copies of books sold! Michael was the President of the Mystery Writers of America organization in 2003 and 2004. In addition to his literary work, Michael is one of the producers of the pilot, “Bosch,” which will be streaming on Amazon in March 2014. He was also one of the creators, writers, and consulting producers of Level 9, a TV show about a task force fighting cyber crime, that ran on UPN in the Fall of 2000. And he can sometimes be seen on the hit TV show Castle playing poker! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Dec 24, 2013
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Jan 04, 2014
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Dec 24, 2013
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Hardcover
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| 1451634927
| 9781451634921
| B00BB9GWMO
| 3.57
| 2,208
| 1995
| Jun 18, 2013
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really liked it
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Book Review "I'm the new boy!" With resolute strides he stomped in the middle of the floor, where he remained standing while the snow from his enormo Book Review "I'm the new boy!" With resolute strides he stomped in the middle of the floor, where he remained standing while the snow from his enormous tennis shoes formed little puddles around his feet. His legs wide apart, as though to conceal the knock-kneed cross formed by his legs, he threw out his arms and repeated: "I'm the new boy!" Perhaps Holt's most intricately plotted novel so far, Death of the Demon takes us into Norway's foster care system and provides interested readers a glimpse into the social welfare state's dealings with troubled families. A theme explored by Larsson's magnificent Millennium series featuring the stunning Lisbeth Sanders, foster care systems in social welfare states provide an exquisite garden of plot material for Nordic crime writers, a fact Holt takes equal advantage of in this series instance. [image] Hanna Wilhelmsen, post-promotion, accepts an additional struggle as she comes to terms with her new position within the police department. Unwilling to relinquish her detective skills and when Agnes Vestavik, the head of a foster care home is murdered Hanna is seen involving herself in the investigation, not as chief, but as detective sending hopeless ripplings throughout the police department and investigative officers as conflicting responsibilities overlap and possibly threaten the investigation. Holt continues Hanna's development and uses the foster care system as a means for further introspection by Hanna into her own sexuality and brings to the forefront the question of children within a lesbian relationship. The relationship of Hanna and Billy T. strengthens and lends credibility to the subversive lesbianism Holt introduced in her first two novels of the series. Approaching Nesbo's undisputed skills in handling multiple plots, Holt expertly takes us into multiple story lines focused on the inhabitants of the foster care home in which the initial crime takes place. Creating tangential plot lines that come together in a stunning conclusion, using characterization as the lens that focus the reader's progress is now a hallmark of Anne Holt. Unfortunately, I have to stop reading this series as the remaining novels set between her hugely successful 1222 and this third in the series have not yet been translated into English. Other reviews on mine in this series are: Blind Goddess Blessed Are Those Who Thirst -------------------------------------------------------------------- Series Review [image] Anne Holt Anne Holt was born November 16, 1958. A Norwegian author and lawyer she has worked for the Oslo Police Department, practiced as a lawyer where she started her own law practice in 1994, served as Minister of Justice in Cabinet Jagland and subsequently resigned from that position for health reasons. Prior to this period, in 1990, she was employed by The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) where she pursued journalism and was for a time anchor woman for the news program Dagsrevyen. In 1993 she made her debut as a novelist with the crime novel Blind Goddess. As with many translated novels Holt was cursed with her series being published out of order. With a hands-off attitude towards her publishers, Anne Holt had to wait until her 8th novel in the series 1222 before reaching an English speaking audience (Amazon actually reported this as #1 in the series!). Blind Goddess was in this case the 2nd novel to be published into English. “Reached via email from the home she shares in Oslo with her partner and daughter, Holt says her publishers made the decision to translate the books out of order.” - Laura DeMarco, The Plain Dealer Allying herself more along the lines of Jo Nesbo of whom she says: [He] is far more socially critical, realistic and ‘Scandinavian” in style: than say Stieg Larsson whom Holt considers straying into the fantastical and unbelievable, no matter how compelling as Lisbeth Sanders and the Millennium series may be to Holt. As with many Scandinavian writers Holt does not forget to pay homeage to two other authors: “I don’t think any of the most popular crime writers in Scandinavia today can evade affinity with Sjowall and Wahloo, who wrote their Martin Beck series between 1965 and 1975. That duo in many ways founded what is now often - somewhat imprecisely - called ‘Scandinavian socially realistic and socially critical crime novel.’” Holt prefers to work on three series at a time. This seems fairly straightforward given that the starting point for Holt is always the story idea, which in turn gets populated by characters. Consequently, it doesn’t always follow that a story can be applied, for example, to the character of Anne Wilhelmsen and therefore is more applicable to a character in another series. For this reason, Holt usually has multiple crime series going on at any one time. Having a story to tell is critical to Holt’s writing. The novels take place within a particular class of society: the wealthy, the highly educated who live in a social democratic welfare state. Norway is one of the richest nations in the region and was considered relatively safe until organized crime moved in peddling its inhumane wares and, sadly, when in 2011 terrorists converged on Oslo and brought Norway into the international spotlight killing nearly 100 people. Readers of my previous Scandinavian reviews will have undoubtedly noted references alluding to not only the Nordic crime writers’ predilection towards using the genre to expose social and political issues, but to take these issues and wrap them into a psychological narrative where the crime isn’t so much one of “who-dun-it” but more one of ”why the hell did this happen?”. Holt in particular is no exception. [image] Massacre at the executive government quarter of Norway ”Increased globalization and extreme developments in communication bring us all closer, and at an ever-faster pace.” Says Holt. “On the other hand, there is an increased polarization because of this situation, both religiously and politically. The literature of a country will - and should - inevitably reflect this.” Though Holt considers herself a political person she makes it very clear that she is not a political writer. The genre, in her opinion, is not meant to provide political solutions but rather political issues are brought to light because in any crime you cannot truthfully explain it unless one casts a light on the society in which the crime takes place. For Holt, there’s the plot and then comes the characterization and especially when constructing a series things can can get surprisingly complex in that her characters are dynamic (unlike Christie’s Hercule Poirot who never changes). Hanne Wilhelmsen grows and becomes more solid and believable as the series progresses in the same way that Harry Hole becomes more solid in Nesbo’s fabulous series. And the longer the series becomes the more difficult the task for Holt as she is limited by not letting Hanne become “out of character”, this while being caught up in a long evolution towards the later novels (in particular 1222 #8) in which Wilhelmsen emerges as quite compelling, a wholly original heroine. Holt says: “I am convinced that crime fiction’s tremendous popularity in many parts of the world, despite the great diversity and variation in the field, is because it deals in universal themes.” Universal themes are those that bind us all together and it cannot escape a reader’s mind that life and death are the axiomatic commonality that most affect us as human beings. Crime fiction is the perfect home for such universal themes. Holt’s challenge is to provide an insight into the drama of human interaction within a large and complex society and in the case of crime fiction within the darker side of that society. In this sense she again allies herself with the work of Jo Nesbo who encapsulates the very best of Norwegian crime fiction: and again as opposed to say Stieg Larsson whom she considers to be more of an americanized, more romanticized if not sensationalized writer with respect to the Swedish society he describes (though YellowBird Productions may have had a hand in this). ...more |
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not set
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not set
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Nov 12, 2013
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Kindle Edition
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| 1451634781
| 9781451634785
| 1451634781
| 3.61
| 2,704
| 1993
| Dec 18, 2012
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really liked it
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Book Review Second in this series, Blessed Are Those Who Thirst adds significantly to the characterization of female Inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen. In Bli Book Review Second in this series, Blessed Are Those Who Thirst adds significantly to the characterization of female Inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen. In Blind Goddess we saw Hanna conflicted by her sexuality, well liked by her colleagues, not yet wholly original as a leading character. In this novel Hanna begins to take baby steps towards coming out of the closet with Holt firming up Hanna's character both on a personal and professional level. It was so early not even the devil had managed to put on his shoes. So begins Blessed Are Those Who Thirst as we enter the crime scene. She [Hanna Wilhelmsen] was standing completely motionless, wondering what she should do. There was blood everywhere. On the floor. Across the walls. Even on the ceiling, dark spatters resembled the abstract pictures in some kind of psychological test. [image] Recurring themes occur in Scandinavian crime fiction as proffered by most Nordic welfare states: foster care systems, immigration, political corruption, elevated drug use and organized crime. In this novel, Holt focuses her razor sharp lens on immigration. A cross between Jo Nesbo and Camilla Ceder, Holt fuses imaginative plot (Nesbo) with exquisite characterization (Ceder). Immigration policy is proving problematic in Norway in that increasingly Nordic countries are targeted as a safe haven for terrorists and the criminal elements in that most do not require residency permits as long as migrants belong either to the European Union, Iceland and Liechtenstein or seek political asylum. The five largest immigrant groups in Norway are Polish, Swedish, Pakistani, Somali and Lithuanian. with a careful focus on natural descriptions - the weather comes to the reader in the form of an unnatural Nordic heat wave that heats up human psyches - Holt fuses multiple plots that take her readers for a behind the scenes look at Norwegian migrant policies, rape, and government corruption all linked to a series of murders of female immigrants, mysteriously linked by a series of numbers, with Hanna Wilhelmsen at the helm of the investigation. Hanna's character is very solid in this second novel. Her fascination with her colleagues, her flashes of brilliance that seem to come at the most desperate of times, her relationship with her live-in partner, and her introspection of what it means to be a lesbian in a heterosexual police department make this a better novel that the first in this series. This change we see in Wilhemsen's character as the series progresses is what draws me to Holt's novels. To create tension outside the plot mechanism and involve readers in tension equally focused on characterization is a neat trick not easily reproduced. It'll be interesting where Holt takes us in this regard for she forewarns us that this conflict belying Hanna's sexuality will resolve itself at some point forward: "Hanne's sexual orientation is just one part of her," says the author. "She had more difficulties with it in the beginning of the series than most real lesbians have, so she cannot in any way be seen as a role model. I don't particularly believe in role models in real life, much less in fiction." Other reviews on mine in this series are: Blind Goddess -------------------------------------------------------------------- Series Review [image] Anne Holt Anne Holt was born November 16, 1958. A Norwegian author and lawyer she has worked for the Oslo Police Department, practiced as a lawyer where she started her own law practice in 1994, served as Minister of Justice in Cabinet Jagland and subsequently resigned from that position for health reasons. Prior to this period, in 1990, she was employed by The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) where she pursued journalism and was for a time anchor woman for the news program Dagsrevyen. In 1993 she made her debut as a novelist with the crime novel Blind Goddess. As with many translated novels Holt was cursed with her series being published out of order. With a hands-off attitude towards her publishers, Anne Holt had to wait until her 8th novel in the series 1222 before reaching an English speaking audience (Amazon actually reported this as #1 in the series!). Blind Goddess was in this case the 2nd novel to be published into English. “Reached via email from the home she shares in Oslo with her partner and daughter, Holt says her publishers made the decision to translate the books out of order.” - Laura DeMarco, The Plain Dealer Allying herself more along the lines of Jo Nesbo of whom she says: [He] is far more socially critical, realistic and ‘Scandinavian” in style: than say Stieg Larsson whom Holt considers straying into the fantastical and unbelievable, no matter how compelling as Lisbeth Sanders and the Millennium series may be to Holt. As with many Scandinavian writers Holt does not forget to pay homeage to two other authors: “I don’t think any of the most popular crime writers in Scandinavia today can evade affinity with Sjowall and Wahloo, who wrote their Martin Beck series between 1965 and 1975. That duo in many ways founded what is now often - somewhat imprecisely - called ‘Scandinavian socially realistic and socially critical crime novel.’” Holt prefers to work on three series at a time. This seems fairly straightforward given that the starting point for Holt is always the story idea, which in turn gets populated by characters. Consequently, it doesn’t always follow that a story can be applied, for example, to the character of Anne Wilhelmsen and therefore is more applicable to a character in another series. For this reason, Holt usually has multiple crime series going on at any one time. Having a story to tell is critical to Holt’s writing. The novels take place within a particular class of society: the wealthy, the highly educated who live in a social democratic welfare state. Norway is one of the richest nations in the region and was considered relatively safe until organized crime moved in peddling its inhumane wares and, sadly, when in 2011 terrorists converged on Oslo and brought Norway into the international spotlight killing nearly 100 people. Readers of my previous Scandinavian reviews will have undoubtedly noted references alluding to not only the Nordic crime writers’ predilection towards using the genre to expose social and political issues, but to take these issues and wrap them into a psychological narrative where the crime isn’t so much one of “who-dun-it” but more one of ”why the hell did this happen?”. Holt in particular is no exception. [image] Massacre at the executive government quarter of Norway ”Increased globalization and extreme developments in communication bring us all closer, and at an ever-faster pace.” Says Holt. “On the other hand, there is an increased polarization because of this situation, both religiously and politically. The literature of a country will - and should - inevitably reflect this.” Though Holt considers herself a political person she makes it very clear that she is not a political writer. The genre, in her opinion, is not meant to provide political solutions but rather political issues are brought to light because in any crime you cannot truthfully explain it unless one casts a light on the society in which the crime takes place. For Holt, there’s the plot and then comes the characterization and especially when constructing a series things can can get surprisingly complex in that her characters are dynamic (unlike Christie’s Hercule Poirot who never changes). Hanne Wilhelmsen grows and becomes more solid and believable as the series progresses in the same way that Harry Hole becomes more solid in Nesbo’s fabulous series. And the longer the series becomes the more difficult the task for Holt as she is limited by not letting Hanne become “out of character”, this while being caught up in a long evolution towards the later novels (in particular 1222 #8) in which Wilhelmsen emerges as quite compelling, a wholly original heroine. Holt says: “I am convinced that crime fiction’s tremendous popularity in many parts of the world, despite the great diversity and variation in the field, is because it deals in universal themes.” Universal themes are those that bind us all together and it cannot escape a reader’s mind that life and death are the axiomatic commonality that most affect us as human beings. Crime fiction is the perfect home for such universal themes. Holt’s challenge is to provide an insight into the drama of human interaction within a large and complex society and in the case of crime fiction within the darker side of that society. In this sense she again allies herself with the work of Jo Nesbo who encapsulates the very best of Norwegian crime fiction: and again as opposed to say Stieg Larsson whom she considers to be more of an americanized, more romanticized if not sensationalized writer with respect to the Swedish society he describes (though YellowBird Productions may have had a hand in this). ...more |
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| 0061733113
| 9780061733116
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| 3.21
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it was amazing
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| 1611090970
| 9781611090970
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| 3.45
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| Feb 21, 2012
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Book review Iceland with a population of 321,857 is considered the most sparsely populated country in Europe and given that at most 1 or 2 murders annu Book review Iceland with a population of 321,857 is considered the most sparsely populated country in Europe and given that at most 1 or 2 murders annually are reported in the entire country it is not the first place readers might venture to discover new crime fiction authors. And for most of the twentieth century publishers agreed. [image] Flatey Island The Flatey Enigma is one of the first books noticed by publishers as originating from Iceland (at least those in translation) - some two years before Arnaldur's successful Jar City made it's way into crime fiction headlines. It is a peculiar story reminiscent of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code but stripped of all sensationalism and the glamour Brown favors. Imagine Brown's story where we chase down clues in old manuscripts while - within the confines of an island and its simple inhabitants - being thrown under an ice cold shower and presented with prose authored in typical Scandinavian bleakness and hyper realism and you'll come close to a description of Viktor's novel. Reader's are exposed to a deep and violent Norse history belying what in all other respects appears to be a peaceful Icelandic society. Two murders on or near Flatey island take place within a few months (astonishing, given Iceland's negligible murder rate). The first is a dead man found on a nearby uninhabited island. The second, some months later, is a mutilated corpse prostrated across a grave on Flatey island, executed in a viking's blood eagle manner (a knife is thrust into the back of the victim, the rib cage opened up and spread out in the manner of an eagle's wings, and the lungs extracted). [image] The Bloodeagle Patient readers will enjoy this book more than impatient readers addicted to the more American variety of crime-fiction ...which is more sensationalized (and who will undoubtably lower the rating due to the slow progress). Personally, I found the descriptions of life on Flatey fascinating (it takes place in the '60s): realistic portrayals of the islander's diet, their small cottages, dress, their ethics and religious beliefs (a mixture of traditional church infused with magic), the fishing industry aimed at seal pups, authority figures and magistrates, the realistic characterization throughout, and the total absence of technology (one telephone on Flatey island). Couple this with a somewhat demure investigation into the norse saga manuscript housed on the island, the contents of which drive the entire novel through Viktor's typical method of flashing back and forth between Norse stories and present day investigative activities on the island. [image] The "real" Flatey Island library All in all, I'm rating this 3.5 stars. Primarily because I did not find the resolution to the mystery around the Flatey book to be as astounding as I was led to believe. I am, after all, a mystery reader first (but a note of caution here: this might be my American habit of expecting a bit more sensationalism). About the author: [image] Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson Ingólfsson, author of The Flatey Enigma was born in the north of Iceland in 1955. A Civil Engineer by profession, a trade he continues to practice today in the service of the Icelandic Road Administration, he began writing after taking a script writing course run by the Icelandic Film Producers and the University of Iceland. Viktor Arnar Ingólfsson (This is an Icelandic name. The last name is a patronymic, not a family name; he is properly referred to by the given name Viktor) has five novels, two of which have been nominated for the Glass Key award which is awarded by the Crime Writers of Scandinavia. What few people know is that prior to his success with his 3 latest novels which can properly be described as belonging to the mystery genre Viktor wrote two novels and short stories which are best described as thrillers. He wrote them some two decades before his recent popularity. This is peculiar as Ingólfsson authored them in years where few authors attempted to introduce icelandic crime-fiction, let alone thrillers that dealt with global issues such as terrorism, drugs, and crime. These novels and short stories are infused with a certain glamour and sensationalism better ascribed to British and American writers, also highly unusual for a Scandinavian author. Though these novels and stories are short and expose a young writer working at his craft while working as a civil engineer and even though no one noticed them (in Iceland this type of story is considered to belong to women's fiction) the seed was firmly planted. Twenty years later... In 1986 a short story [Slossmæjer] by Viktor appeared in a collection published after a short story competition run by the Reykjavik Art Festival. It was a sort of thriller and was the only time that Viktor's name surfaced in the writing world. He kept quiet for 16 years until 1998 when he became the surprising discovery with his book Engin Spor. Since publishers weren't interested (at the time, publishers had zero faith in the marketablity of Icelandic crime fiction), Ingólfsson published the book himself. Even then, no one in the publishing world was interested until it was the readers who elevated the book to the year's best mystery novel - a title that continued for two years until Arnaldurs Jar City took the Scandinavian world by storm. It is with Engin Spor that Viktor dropped his previous sensationalization and placed his novels within Iceland, adopting the famous northern bleakness found in much of Scandinavian crime-writing. And the rest is history. ...more |
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| 4.16
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really liked it
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Book Review Get ready for another irreverent ride in Locke's world of zany characters. In this, the third Gideon Box novel, Locke asks us to consider w Book Review Get ready for another irreverent ride in Locke's world of zany characters. In this, the third Gideon Box novel, Locke asks us to consider what might happen were we to take a back-woods Appalachian mountain girl (Trudy) and emigrate her to sophisticated New York City as Gideon Box's girlfriend. Will she survive high society when her pedigree is one of being married momentarily to her brother (whom she thought was her cousin) and subsequently thrown by Gideon into high society, mindful that she is not up to sparring intelligently on matters of politics, music, culture and being ever so polite (and incredibly sexy to the point of distracting every male that comes near her and tolerating the raving jealousy of wives) until she's had enough and clobbers refined women hosting million dollar donation dinner parties? Appalachian back woods violence does not go over well in NYC. [image] Will Trudy be able to withstand high society's revenge? Will Gideon Box remain beside her, loyal and willing? And what about Rose? You know her from the Emmett Love series, how does she suddenly appear centuries later in NYC on an urgent mission to engage Gideon's help in saving an infant about to be born of our lovely prostitute Miranda (she, of the Creed series)? And what about ManChild, is he really dead? Read on...Locke never ceases to suprise you. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Series Review [image] John Locke John Locke is a writer and novelist who was the eighth author--and first self-published author--to sell over one million eBooks on Amazon.com. Locke is a New York Times best-selling author, and is best known for his Donovan Creed and Gideon Box thriller series as well as the Emmett Love Western series.His works are self-published worldwide. In the U.S., Locke’s books are released through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing service. Locke's books have been translated into over 29 languages. What life history could have existed to have John Locke become the wildly popular author he is today? Let's see. He was born in Puerto Rico in a military family. Nope, that won't do it. He attended boarding school in Pennsylvania. Ok, that doesn't do it either. Persuing...perusing. But wait! In elementary school he got bitten by an ant. Hmmm...unlikely, but let's read a bit further. He first became interested in writing during elementary school, after being bitten by an ant. He wrote a short story titled "Ants Aren’t Very Nice," which his teacher enjoyed so much that she read it to his class, and then had him read it to a higher class. Like a stew bubbling on the stove, it took a while before this seed germinated. First, Locke made his fortune selling insurance and investing in real estate. From there he went on to higher learning where he, at least, considered majoring in journalism. That didn't happen. Like another favorite author of mine, Jo Nesbo,Locke was sidetracked by other ambitions: Locke began singing for a rock band. Still, he sold insurance and rose to the position of area vice president by the time he was 21. At the age of 35 he founded Freedom Life Insurance, a company that rose to nearly 7000 insurance agents in 34 states. Today he has sold that company and has become a private investor owning two insurance companyes and 13 shopping centers. It wasn't until 2010 that he began self publishing novels he wanted to write (the seed has germinated!). Business savvy, he concluded that for the other 8 eBook best selling authors who charged up to $10 or above for their eBooks and receiving in return 35% royalties, he would sell his for below $2.99 per book, and thus received 70% royalties (most of his books are $0.99). Technologically savvy too, he adjusted his audience to those out there blogging (a method he calls "Loyalty Transference") and through such reader loyalty Locke employs social media to transfer that loyalty to other potential readers. If you're a would-be author, you may want to check out Locke's guide to self publishing: How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months For myself: I'd never heard of John Locke until I received my Kindle DX in the mail. How can I go wrong with a novel priced at $0.99, right? I was surprised at what I read and hooked from the start. Unlike my other series books, however, there is a difference in the books in terms of ratings...so I have not given them the standard 4 or 5 star ratings across the entire series. The Gideon Box series (3 novels thus far) employs Locke's Loyalty Transference method. Gideon Box is Donovan Creed's doctor: often unwillingly so. The Creed, Emmett Love and Box series are interconnected tales, a John Locke world spanning centuries, with the Emmett Love series taking place several hundred years ago (Emmett Love is Creed's ancestor) and amazing in itself, one character from the Emmett Love series continues to intrude on the present day adventures of Creed and Dr. Box. Irreverent, crude, wild, anti-social, exploitative, sexist (in a delightful manner), scoffing at literary rules and preconceptions, these books are definitely not for the PC crowd. Gideon Box is rude, temperamental, a genius who considers himself the greatest cardiothoracic/cardiopulmonary pediatric surgeon in the world (and he is, as he's never lost a patient) both present to the reader a repulsive and attractive hero to relish or denounce. These books are short but packing a powerful punch, a mixture of excellent humor (left me laughing at the insanity of what I was reading) and the grim reality of a hero who saves lives, works for Creed, and inhales women as if breathing Spring Dandelions. You will find that towards the end of each Box book you will be filled with disappointment that the ride is over...and almost certainly you will hunt down the next Gideon Box thriller. ...more |
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| 0670015784
| 9780670015788
| 0670015784
| 4.28
| 9,176
| Oct 17, 2013
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it was amazing
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Book Review: Sidled up and in between the major Walt Longmire novels, Johnson frequently publishes novellas and short stories featuring the steadfast h Book Review: Sidled up and in between the major Walt Longmire novels, Johnson frequently publishes novellas and short stories featuring the steadfast hero Walt Longmire: sheriff of Wyoming's fictional Absaroka County. Spirit of Steamboat, numerically sequenced as #9.1 is the latest in this series of novellas. Aside from the Dick Francis's novels I don't know of any other author writing in this genre who portrays a hero as bound by rational thought, steadfast ethics, and likability as does Craig Johnson. This is the kind of adventure story that I'd imagine myself reading to listeners by a fireplace where every word inspires heroism, goodness, and a profound anxiety on the part of the listener (or reader) to have Walt survive the experience. This is a story of a woman who wishes to express gratitude and of how one accepts that gratitude when dished out, or not. This novella features the former sheriff of Absaroka County and Walt, the current sheriff. It is a gripping tale where the reader hangs on every passage, following the deadly flight of Steamboat, an old and deemed a not-safe-to-fly B-52 airplane on a rescue mission through a horrifying snow blizzard, in effect risking a handful of lives in an effort to save one life. [image] Telling great stories is what Craig Johnson does best. Those who have read my reviews and taken me up on reading this series will no doubt agree: reading a Johnson novel, novella, or short story is a great reading experience second to none. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Series Review [image] Craig Johnson Craig Johnson has written nine novels in his Walt Longmire series. Formerly a police officer; he has also worked as a educator, cowboy and longshoreman. Awards include Tony Hillerman Award, Wyoming Historical Society Award, Wyoming Councl for the Arts Award, as well as numerous starred awards. Johnson was also a board member of the Mystery Writers' of America. Craig Johnson as an artist, as a man who paints with words ascribes to the essential characteristic of what makes art different from anything else: only it can portray the world as the artist thinks it ought to be as opposed to how it is. "Now a days, it's really hard to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys..." he says in an interview. "But Walt's a pretty good guy...the kinda guy if my car slithered off the road on I-80 in a blizzard, he's the guy I'd want to help me out." Johnson admits to portraying Walt Longmire, the hero in this award-winning series, as "The kinda guy my wife says I want to be in about 10 years." Starting from his choice of book title all the way to the final period at the end of the book Johnson's prose fills the reader's soul with a longing for the good. And where else is one to find it but in the fictional county of Absaroka, Wyoming and it's Sheriff Walt Longmire. As with the work of William Kent Krueger Johnson introduces readers to the Western concept of cowboys and indians. Growing up in the Netherlands, I read till late in the night the wildly popular series Winnetou and Old Shatterhand (not available in the States). When playing outside 6000 miles away from American soil, it wasn't cops and robbers we played, it was cowboys and indians. It was this image of America I held in my mind as a 12 year old boy standing on the deck of the U.S.S. Rotterdam as we sailed into New York Harbor and waited in the lines of Ellis Island to be granted access to my boyhood dreams. Unlike older western novels, however, Johnson brings this cultural diversity into the 20th century and without delving into multi-culturalism brings us to that mystical nether region between the two where native american and white man meet each other half-way. Johnson's aim is at portraying a fictional world as it should be and this includes diversity. Henry, a native american is Walt's best friend. The indian community stands ready to aid the law, helps the white man bring justice regardless of race, color or creed. Walt Longmire, in a hallucinatory fit, dances with the Cheyenne spirits who guide him to safety in the midst of a devastating blizzard even though the unconscious man slung over his shoulders is a perpatrator against a Native American woman. Walt does not question his sanity afterwards. Craig Johnson's world is one we might all long for...and isn't that the purpose of art? Too often I read book reviews where the reviewers seem to place verisimilitude above fiction. In my opinion, if you want reality, if you want to read about the way things are, then view a documentary, read a biography, check out reality TV. This is fiction, and if an author changes reality to suit his notion for the book, so be it... For some, the first in the series moves along a bit slowly...but to them I would say: give this writer time to paint his world as he sees fit. Books that concentrate on rural settings often have the advantage of highlighting the human condition in startling clarity. Distractions such as are found in urban settings removed, we see good and evil and compassion in a more profound way. Wyoming's Absaroka County gives us this magnifying glass. I found the plot intriguing and the ending second-to-none. Truly, the titles are well chosen in these novels. There's a huge fan base for Johnson's work out there. A fan base that is after values, the good kind. I'm reminded of my daughter's fascination with Taylor Swift, whose millions of fans adulate her for precisely the same reason: her vision of 'the good'. There is a Renaissance occurring in a real world that at best can be portrayed as lost in the grey fog of compromised values; a Renaissance that has caught the attention of not only our youth, but all ages. And they are telling us what they want. There's a reason A&E's Longmire series has been approved for Season #2. The first season sported A&E's #1 original-series premier of all time with 4.1 million total viewers. I plan to read this entire series and after that, I plan to view the A&E series (hopefully on Netflix where it is not yet available for down-streaming). Johnson, remarking on the television series agrees that he is 100% on board as the televised version is keeping very close to the books. Unless there is a drastic divergence in subsequent Longmire novels, this review will be the same for all the Walt Longmire books. Enjoy! ...more |
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| 0440212316
| 3.88
| 5,712
| Mar 19, 1981
| Jun 01, 1994
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Book Review Scholarship asks, thank God, no recompense but Truth. It is not for the sake of material reward that she (Scholarship) pursues her (Truth) Book Review Scholarship asks, thank God, no recompense but Truth. It is not for the sake of material reward that she (Scholarship) pursues her (Truth) through the undergrowth of Ignorance, shining on Obscurity the bright torch of Reason and clearing aside the tangled thorns of Error with the keen secateurs of Intellect Thus was Adonis Murdered and thus is his murderer extracted from obscurity: from indistinctness into certainty, from the labor of chase to the methods of scholarship, from the top floor of 62 New Square at Lincoln's inn to the black water canals of Venice we enter the sinister but light-hearted and very English world of professor Hilary Tamar as she pursues a killer. [image] Distancing is employed throughout the novel by the author Sarah Caudwell: an absurd British elitism takes place, woven into the first person narrative, an academic aristocracy that targets British lower orders of solicitors, accountants, tax inspectors and Cambridge graduates. Frequently removed from the action and enjoying the role of a parental figure to her group of young barristers, professor Tamar acts as the main detective and confidently gathers her intelligence via a series of beautifully written letters and succinct telexes (this is written in 1981) sent back and forth between England and Italy. [image] To briefly intrude on this review, I have to say that this book for those of a certain age group will bring to the forefront a certain nostalgia we experienced in our days: the sad memory of receiving a letter via post, examining the stamp, the writing front and back, the relishment at guessing at its contents, and carefully opening it to its pages written in long hand, the cursive writing as much a clue to the personage writing it as my acquaintance of them in person. The very attraction to it all being the unambiguous display of personal information on the envelope and its inspired contents. Writing in long hand presupposed thought (we did not have Ctrl X, or Del, nor Ctrl C or Ctrl V). Thought and the careful delineation onto paper of those thoughts engendered the joy of receiving the results of it in letters. That era is gone and this book markedly reminds us as to the beauty of such correspondence. Location is very important to Caudwell, in this case Venice, Italy. Julia Larwood, a somewhat clumsy but intelligent member of Tamar's group of young barristers and herself both a victim and expert in financial tax law, and while on an Art Tour in Venice finds no work of art quite as alluring as the beauteous Ned, our Adonis and a fellow tour member and ultimately our victim. Julia, located in Venice, has written a letter to her friends at Lincoln's Inn. In it she remarks as to Ned: The pressure of the crowds gathered to watch the spectacle brought me into closer proximity with the lovely Ned than could otherwise have been achieved. This, with heat and the wine I had drunk at lunch, induced in me a certain dizziness: I was hard put to it to refrain from any open advance. I did consider, indeed, whether I should try fainting, as recommended by the dramatist Shakespeare. It seemed to me, however, that unless Ned felt obliged to carry me all the way back to my room at the Cytherea nothing of substance could be achieved by this. He does not seem to me the kind of young man who would readily undertake such a task. And upon reading this passage, the retort from those gathered around the letter: 'I don't believe Shakespeare told Julia to try fainting, ' said Cantrip. 'He's dead.' 'She's referring,' said Selena, 'to his early poem "Venus and Adonis". Julia read it at an impressionable age and has since regarded it as a sort of seduction manual. It's hardly Julia's fault. They told her at school that Shakespeare was educational' 'As I recall,' I said, 'the methods employed by the goddess in her pursuit of Adonis, though forceful, achieved only limited success. Doesn't Julia find that discouraging?' The prose is written in a self-conscious literary style and includes many references on art history, art collections and subjects of higher learning. Before you begin to contemplate the idea that this novel is perhaps a little too removed and dry for your tastes, as the first few pages of the novel, or as perhaps I've alluded too in describing the distancing methods employed by Caudwell, or as the first paragraph of this review seems to indicate, do please read on. What awaits you is an incredible plunge into British wit (second to none), filled with targeted barbed comments aimed at forcing the intended victim to a response of emotional barbarity and yet resisted by the ever-present British proclivity to laugh at one's self in spite of it all. Hidden beneath the narrative is a remarkable openness (for the time) to sexual identities (interestingly, the narrator's sex throughout the entire series is unknown, another distancing method employed), this skulduggery while being served up with a literary and historical feast thankfully held together by an intricate mystery plot driven by an unmistakable prominence and regard for reason and intelligence so markedly absent in literature today is perhaps reason enough to have a look at Ms. Caudwells work. I certainly think so as often throughout its reading I burst into laughter at the self deprecating manner of the British, if not admiringly and open-eyed while considering the remarkable intelligence of this author. ------------------------------------------------ Series Review [image] This is a series of four slim novels, often described as "legal whodunits" written over a period of 20 years. Centered around the lives of a professor and four young barristers practicing in Lincoln's inn: Michael Cantrip, Desmond Ragwort, Selena Jardine and Julia Larwood (with infrequent visits by Timothy Shepherd), characterized thinly but for their ironic tone and light-hearted and musing dialogue, these delightful characters come together to form the solutions towards murder with Professor Hilary Tamar acting as both a seeming parent with rather strong bonds to her young barristers, as well as acting the part of lead detective. [image] Sarah Caudwell Sarah Caudwell was the pseudonym of Sarah Cockburn (27 May 1939 - 28 January 2000), herself a British barrister and professor of Medieval Law. She was one of the first two female students to join the Oxfor Union and as legend has it, dressed up in men's clothes to protest against the Union's male-only membership policy. Possessing a brilliant mind, she joined the Chancery bar in 1966 and worked to excel in property and tax law. But it wasn't until her subsequent arrival at Lloyd's Bank where she became a senior executive in the trust department that Ms. Cockburn devised her pseudonym and began writing her highly popular (among British barristers, certainly!) Hilary Tamar series. The books, as a general statement represent a feast for the mind. Though absent of a certain sense of lyricism, or poetic constitution, these books are regarded as nevertheless belonging to a literary mystery genre where language and dialogue take priority (Often throughout my readings I was taken aback by Caudwell's obvious mastery of the English syntax and word choices). To every witticism, to every wonderfully descriptive passage, to every spoken dialogue, the precision of word choice, concepts seeming to have been plucked from the ether and chosen so as to not leave the reader any doubt as to the intention of the passage can leave the reader slightly unnerved at one's own lack of understanding of English. The result is a highly satisfying experience by which the mind is replenished and inspiration awakened from its deep linguistic slumber. ...more |
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Oct 22, 2013
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Oct 26, 2013
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Oct 26, 2013
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 9781451634761
| 1451634765
| 3.45
| 5,027
| 1993
| Jun 05, 2012
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really liked it
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Book Review The first in this series, Blind Goddess shows us a young, passionate female Inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen guided by a seeming unfailing gut in Book Review The first in this series, Blind Goddess shows us a young, passionate female Inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen guided by a seeming unfailing gut instinct that often steels into her mind like a car crash. Conflicted by her sexuality, well liked by her colleagues, not yet wholly original as a leading character but certainly believable, Hanne consequently unravels an Oslo conspiracy involving drugs, murder, and government corruption when in opening a man is found sitting quietly in the road, his clothes covered in a waterfall of blood, without ID, and apparently in cognizant of his precarious position obstructing traffic. So begins Blind Goddess. ”With his unmarked blue epaulettes lacking even a single stripe as insurance against all the vilest jobs, he was terrified of so much possibly HIV-infected blood. Protected by rubber gloves, he pulled the open leather jacket of the arrested man. Only then did he see that his T-shirt had originally been white. His denim jeans were covered in blood too, and he had a general air of self-neglect.” [image] Holt lives in a world between Camilla Ceder whose psychological insight into Scandinavian characters takes precedence over complex plot and Jo Nesbo whose complex plots are fused perfectly with psychological motivation. Blind Goddess is an intricate novel that exposes a triumvirate of story lines focused on Norway’s Justice System, Criminal Organizations, and Oslo’s Police Department, each with a leading character to drive the intricate story home. Though primarily taking place in and around Oslo and as is typical of her Swedish counterparts, Holt seems to hold both a fascination for the urbane and the natural beauty of her country. Urban settings overwhelm this novel but sporadically we’re taken out into the country. In one example, a man takes it upon himself to retrieve a briefcase hidden at the bottom of a frozen well in the middle of Winter and what follows is as captivating as any anxious scene ought to be. In another example, this one in an urban setting, Holt casts her character’s eyes at the sky: ”It seemed as caught out by the sudden cold as the motorists on Geitemyrsveien, sliding into one another on their fully inflated summer tires. The sky looked low. Only the church spires, the high one at Uranienborg and two shorter ones not so far away, were preventing it from total collapse.” Identifying with her readers is a Holt specialty. Who has not experienced that impending feeling of doom as the sky hangs a bit too low for comfort? But, hang on, there’s more… As the first in a series, Anne Holt begins her story with a lesbian protagonist. In this regard, she says: “Human psychology is a complex phenomenon, which can be roughly divided into two categories: the universally human that is basic for each individual, regardless of where you come from, and the attitudes and behavior patterns that reflect the community you are a part of.” Being an author and belonging to the latter category it is quite natural that Holt created a lesbian protagonist as this reflects the author’s own sexuality and the community in which she lives. But - perhaps taking a page from Val McDermid who upon beginning her career and writing with a focus on lesbian characters and as a result found herself relegated to what at the time was a niche market with limited sales and only upon starting a series that featured a heterosexual couple (the highly popular Wire in the Blood series with Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan) finding herself a much wider audience - it is that we find Holt keeping this aspect of Hanna’s character on the back burner. "Hanne's sexual orientation is just one part of her," says the author. "She had more difficulties with it in the beginning of the series than most real lesbians have, so she cannot in any way be seen as a role model. I don't particularly believe in role models in real life, much less in fiction." And yet there is something subversive in the lesbian character of Hanne Wilhelmsen, at least in this, the opening to the series where Holt alludes to Hanne’s ”difficulties”. The novel’s focus is primarily on heterosexual characters which is further elaborated on by the character of police lawyer Håkon Sand who is clearly enamored and attracted to Hanne Wilhelmsen, a development that leaves open the idea that options exist for either character: Hanna Wilhelmsen as the impeccable, more than capable if not steely sleuth and Håkon Sand a submissive man, evasive and tenderized like a fine steak who makes do with what he can’t have by involving himself with Karen Borg: the third in a triptych of triangular characters. Blind Goddess is an allusion to Lady Justice and appropriately concerns itself with the Norwegian legal system, it’s failures and fallacies if not its corruption. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Series Review [image] Anne Holt Anne Holt was born November 16, 1958. A Norwegian author and lawyer she has worked for the Oslo Police Department, practiced as a lawyer where she started her own law practice in 1994, served as Minister of Justice in Cabinet Jagland and subsequently resigned from that position for health reasons. Prior to this period, in 1990, she was employed by The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (NRK) where she pursued journalism and was for a time anchor woman for the news program Dagsrevyen. In 1993 she made her debut as a novelist with the crime novel Blind Goddess. As with many translated novels Holt was cursed with her series being published out of order. With a hands-off attitude towards her publishers, Anne Holt had to wait until her 8th novel in the series 1222 before reaching an English speaking audience (Amazon actually reported this as #1 in the series!). Blind Goddess was in this case the 2nd novel to be published into English. “Reached via email from the home she shares in Oslo with her partner and daughter, Holt says her publishers made the decision to translate the books out of order.” - Laura DeMarco, The Plain Dealer Allying herself more along the lines of Jo Nesbo of whom she says: [He] is far more socially critical, realistic and ‘Scandinavian” in style: than say Stieg Larsson whom Holt considers straying into the fantastical and unbelievable, no matter how compelling as Lisbeth Sanders and the Millennium series may be to Holt. As with many Scandinavian writers Holt does not forget to pay homeage to two other authors: “I don’t think any of the most popular crime writers in Scandinavia today can evade affinity with Sjowall and Wahloo, who wrote their Martin Beck series between 1965 and 1975. That duo in many ways founded what is now often - somewhat imprecisely - called ‘Scandinavian socially realistic and socially critical crime novel.’” Holt prefers to work on three series at a time. This seems fairly straightforward given that the starting point for Holt is always the story idea, which in turn gets populated by characters. Consequently, it doesn’t always follow that a story can be applied, for example, to the character of Anne Wilhelmsen and therefore is more applicable to a character in another series. For this reason, Holt usually has multiple crime series going on at any one time. Having a story to tell is critical to Holt’s writing. The novels take place within a particular class of society: the wealthy, the highly educated who live in a social democratic welfare state. Norway is one of the richest nations in the region and was considered relatively safe until organized crime moved in peddling its inhumane wares and, sadly, when in 2011 terrorists converged on Oslo and brought Norway into the international spotlight killing nearly 100 people. Readers of my previous Scandinavian reviews will have undoubtedly noted references alluding to not only the Nordic crime writers’ predilection towards using the genre to expose social and political issues, but to take these issues and wrap them into a psychological narrative where the crime isn’t so much one of “who-dun-it” but more one of ”why the hell did this happen?”. Holt in particular is no exception. [image] Massacre at the executive government quarter of Norway ”Increased globalization and extreme developments in communication bring us all closer, and at an ever-faster pace.” Says Holt. “On the other hand, there is an increased polarization because of this situation, both religiously and politically. The literature of a country will - and should - inevitably reflect this.” Though Holt considers herself a political person she makes it very clear that she is not a political writer. The genre, in her opinion, is not meant to provide political solutions but rather political issues are brought to light because in any crime you cannot truthfully explain it unless one casts a light on the society in which the crime takes place. For Holt, there’s the plot and then comes the characterization and especially when constructing a series things can can get surprisingly complex in that her characters are dynamic (unlike Christie’s Hercule Poirot who never changes). Hanne Wilhelmsen grows and becomes more solid and believable as the series progresses in the same way that Harry Hole becomes more solid in Nesbo’s fabulous series. And the longer the series becomes the more difficult the task for Holt as she is limited by not letting Hanne become “out of character”, this while being caught up in a long evolution towards the later novels (in particular 1222 #8) in which Wilhelmsen emerges as quite compelling, a wholly original heroine. Holt says: “I am convinced that crime fiction’s tremendous popularity in many parts of the world, despite the great diversity and variation in the field, is because it deals in universal themes.” Universal themes are those that bind us all together and it cannot escape a reader’s mind that life and death are the axiomatic commonality that most affect us as human beings. Crime fiction is the perfect home for such universal themes. Holt’s challenge is to provide an insight into the drama of human interaction within a large and complex society and in the case of crime fiction within the darker side of that society. In this sense she again allies herself with the work of Jo Nesbo who encapsulates the very best of Norwegian crime fiction: and again as opposed to say Stieg Larsson whom she considers to be more of an americanized, more romanticized if not sensationalized writer with respect to the Swedish society he describes (though YellowBird Productions may have had a hand in this). ...more |
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Nov 07, 2013
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Oct 21, 2013
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Hardcover
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| 0399160817
| 9780399160813
| 0399160817
| 4.01
| 3,771
| Sep 03, 2013
| Sep 03, 2013
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really liked it
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Book Review Refusal is Felix's second novel written alone without his father (Gamble being the first). I wonder what this must be like for Felix, to ha Book Review Refusal is Felix's second novel written alone without his father (Gamble being the first). I wonder what this must be like for Felix, to have spent all those years (40 of them) collaborating with his mother and father on the Dick Francis books, and driven by a desire to honor his father's legacy and his mother's inspiration, all those mornings at the breakfast table perspiring on what the actual damage of a bullet might be when entering a human body, what the physics were behind the trajectory of a bullet, sharing his father's love for British horse racing, only to have to do this all alone today with only the memory of his father and mother to inspire him forward? This cannot be easy and only speaks to the fortitude of the son. [image] Steeplechase horse racing Gamble, Felix's only previous novel written solo, displays a slight anxiety at being handed the reins to a horse previously ridden only by his father. The prose was slightly more formulaic than his father's prose, not as velvety smooth. Gamble did not yet display the best years of Felix's life. Refusal on the other hand has rapidly accelerated the horse, has circumvented difficult turns on the steeple chase run, and shows Felix's confidence building, growing towards the ideal set by his father. The slight difference in style (remembering this is a family business) is near invisible; the story as true as any returning hero's story should be. Refusal brings back Sid Halley, retired PI for over 6 years now, into the world of steeplechase horse racing. Engaging a familiar theme developed by his father - evil exists because we let it exist, it is powerless on its own - Felix examines the problem of what to do with a bully. To right a wrong demands risk and witness how Sid Halley weighs each in this, the second of the Felix Francis novels. Enjoy! I did. ------------------------------------------------------------- series Review [image] Felix and Dick Francis To speak about Felix Francis I must mention Dick Francis, his father. To not do so would be a gross oversight and a complete misrepresentation of the Felix novels. To speak about Felix I would have to mention his family's business: the co-authoring of mystery novels. Craftsmen pass down their knowledge to their children; the Japanese tea ceremony is passed down from generation to generation; but to say that authors of fiction see their art, and their heroes, as a family business is quite out of the ordinary. Authors do not normally share credit for their work and certainly don't see their novels as a family business: literally. And yet, the Francis family sees it just so. Felix remembers almost 40 years of sitting around the Francis breakfast table where the production of a Francis novel took place: always a mixture of perspiration, inspiration, and more importantly, team work. But it wasn't until Dick's wife, Mary Francis, died that Felix took over all research and co-authoring duties and made the decision to quit his 17 year academic career teaching advanced Physics in 3 schools the last while acting as head of the science department at Bloxom school, Oxfordshire. [image] Mary and Dick Francis What is there to say about Dick Francis? As I think about all of his books (yes, I have read all 40 of them: twice) I think about a moral ethical hero, steeped in intelligence and goodness embroiled in evil machinations within British horse racing society - either directly or indirectly. Although Dick Francis was a horse jockey himself, the heroes in his mystery novels aren't always horse jockies, they can be film producers, or involve heroes engaged in peripheral professions that somehow always touch the horse racing world. And to my mind as I read reviews here on GR where heroes are always flawed, or where literary works concentrate on a rather malevolent view of reality reading a Francis novel is like listening to Vivaldi's Four Seasons: classical music cleanses me and reaffirms my basic view that the world is good: reading a Francis novel accomplishes much the same. Felix's partnership, in particular as a knowledgeable resource with his famous father can be seen in Twice Shy where Dick Francis draws upon Felix's knowledge of Physics, or, Felix's past as an international marksman in Shattered or Under Orders. After the death in 2000 of Mary Francis, his wife of 53 years and a close collaborator on his books, Mr. Francis expressed doubts that he would ever write another novel. “She was the moving force behind my writing,” he said. “I don’t think I shall write again other than letters now. So much of my work was her.” This is when Felix, the son, stepped into the picture full time to help his devastated father. Regardless, it wasn't until six years later that Dick Francis's last novel as a solo author, Under Orders, would see publication. All novels written after this period featured Felix as the co-author: and for the first time Dead Heat, Silks, and Even Money were published as a collaboration between father and son. Francis's heroes are rational human beings. The choices made are rational choices directed by a firm objective philosophy that belies all of Francis's novels. The dialogue is clear and touched with humor no matter the intensity of evil that the hero faces. The hero's thoughts reveal a vulnerability that is touching, while the hero's actions are always based on doing the right thing to achieve justice. Causing the reader to deeply care about the characters in a novel is a difficult thing to do. No such worries in a Francis novel. The point of view is first person, you are the main character as you read the story. The hero is personable, likable, non-violent but delivering swift justice with his mind rather than through physical means. This is not to say that violence is a stranger to our hero. Some of it staggering and often delivered by what we would otherwise think of normal persons living in British society. When Dick Francis passed away at the age of 89 in 2010, Felix Francis did the right thing: he set himself to continuing the saga started by his father: the implicit promise to his father's readers being: "the Francis novels will continue to be published, one each year as has been the tradition of my father." Since his father's death, and in order to honor his father's legacy, Felix continues to publish the novels written solely by him under his father's name with himself as co-author. I personally deeply mourned the passing of Dick Francis. I grew up with his novels, I came to love the world of Steeple Chase racing because of Dick Francis. I grew a fondness for horses, stables, trainers and the people who live in that world. I understood the broader implications: that courage and integrity are our hallmark as human beings, that evil can only exist because we let it exist - it is impotent all on its own. I do think that one crucial aspect of art is its ability to portray a world as it ought to be and often lament that not enough is done in this vein outside of science fiction, as opposed to portraying the world as it is. What moves us forward are visions of clarity and hope as encompassed in a world that can be...and if we fail to give readers this vision, we remain in the quagmire of what is. You, the potential reader, will likely read the books, devouring one after the other. The Francis family has a lot of novels for your reading pleasure and the world is a better place for it. Thank you, Felix, for continuing your family's saga. ...more |
Notes are private!
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Oct 03, 2013
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Oct 05, 2013
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Oct 05, 2013
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Hardcover
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| 0099464691
| 9780099464693
| 0099464691
| 3.87
| 22,706
| 1993
| Sep 04, 2003
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liked it
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Book Review The White Lioness, the third in the Kurt Wallander series is perhaps intended as Mankell's most ambitious Wallander novel to date. I say "i Book Review The White Lioness, the third in the Kurt Wallander series is perhaps intended as Mankell's most ambitious Wallander novel to date. I say "intended" because on some levels it doesn't succeed as such. I'm a big fan of Wallander: his idiosyncrasies, his anti-authority attitude, his loneliness and faltering family relations - they all evoke a reader's empathy in just the right amounts - but Mankell's ambitions to incorporate in this book a world stage of politics, assassinations, and third person point of views stretching across two continents may have stretched this book beyond the pale of a single mystery novel. This book was published some 20 years since Henning Mankell's first trip to the African continent, a continent he now calls his second home. We write what we know and so it is to be expected that some of Mankell's fondness for Africa would show up in a Wallander book (he has written stand alones that focus on Africa, novels such as A Treacherous Paradise, The Eye of the Leopard, or his Chronicler of the Winds), but the case can be made that as an author just because you know Africa or love its people, it doesn't mean that one should attempt to incorporate it in a Wallander series that takes place far removed from such passions. This can create problems for the author. For example: Kurt Wallander is relatively ignorant of international politics (we know this from reading Dog of Riga). To create a book that focuses on the flammable politics of a nation far removed and place it within a Wallander book can stretch a reader's credulity as it did with me. To circumvent this problem, Mankell created various third person viewpoints that includes allowing the reader to enter the mind of de Klerk, president of South Africa. It didn't work for me. Not when reading a Wallander book. [image] This is not to say that the parts taking place in South Africa didn't evoke interest. Mankell does a good job of outlining the problem and giving some salient plot elements to drive the point home...but in many ways it was a superficial glossing over and served to divide the book so that it became as if I were reading two novels, instead of one. (Reminder to self: read one of Mankell's stand-alones taking place in Africa). The metaphor of the White Lioness concretized by an observation of several very minor characters while on safari works only to a certain degree to accent the issue of apartheid. Did it really drive home the essence of the novel? I didn't think so. On the other hand, I had a few problems with the aspects of this novel that take place in Sweden. I know Wallander despises authority, I know he bucks the system...but to start pointing guns at his colleagues, and to wander into a fog like a lunatic without sufficient cause when the solution is to behave rationally to outsmart a villain? What is the deep underlying cause for this behavior? Lack of sleep? I don't think so, Wallander has never slept well. Having said all of the above and the resultant 3 star rating, I still enjoyed the book. That after all, is the magic of Henning Mankell. To cause us to care about Wallander. ----------------------------------------------------- Series Review Henning Mankell is an internationally known Swedish crime writer known mostly for this fictional character Kurt Wallander. He is married to Eva Bergman. [image] Henning Mankell - Author It might be said that the fall of communism and the consequent increase in Swedish immigration and asylum seekers has been the engine that drives much of Swedish crime fiction. Mankell's social conscience, his cool attitude towards nationalism and intolerance is largely a result of the writer's commitment to helping the disadvantaged (see his theater work in Africa). In this vein, readers might be interested in his stand-alone novel Kennedy's Brain a thriller set in Africa and inspired by the AIDS epidemic (Mankell often traveled to Africa to help third world populations); or read his The Eye of the Leopard, a haunting novel juxtaposing a man's coming of age in Sweden and his life in Zambia. Mankell's love of Africa, his theater work on that continent, and his exploits in helping the disadvantaged is not generally known by his American readers. In fact, an international news story that has largely gone unnoticed is that while the world watched as Israeli soldiers captured ships attempting to break the Gaza blockade, few people are aware that among the prisoners of the Israelis was one of the world's most successful and acclaimed writers: Henning Mankell. [image] It is no exaggeration when I say that Henning Mankell is by far one of the most successful writers in Scandinavia, especially in his own country of Sweden. The Nordic weather, cold to the bones, drives its populace indoors for much of the year where cuddling up to read the latest in crime fiction is a national pastime. For many GR readers who have been introduced to Kurt Wallander it is interesting to note that ultimately the success of bringing Mankell to English speaking audiences only came after bringing in the same production company responsible for Steig Larsson's Millennium trilogy for the wildly popular BBC version starring Kenneth Branagh. Viewers had no problem with an anglicized version of Mankell's work, an English speaking cast set down in a genuine Swedish countryside. Of course, to those fans thoroughly familiar with Mankell's work, it is the Swedish televised version that is found to be a more accurately portrayal of Mankell's novels...not the British, sensationalized version. And there's a reason for that. Henning's prose is straightforward, organized, written mostly in linear fashion, a straightforward contract with the reader. It is largely quantified as police procedural work. The work of men who are dogged and patient to a fault. Kurt Wallander, the hero in Mankell's novels, is the alter ego of his creator: a lonely man, a dogged policeman, a flawed hero, out of shape, suffering from headaches and diabetes, and possessing a scarred soul. Understandably so and if some of the GR reviews are an indication; like his famous father-in-law Ingmar Bergman, Mankell is from a country noted for its Nordic gloom. But before you make the assumption that this is yet another addition to the somberness and darkness that characterizes Nordic writing Mankell often confounds this cliche with guarded optimism and passages crammed with humanity (for Mankell, this is true both personally and professionally as a writer). As Americans we often think of Sweden as possessing an very open attitude towards sex and that this is in marked contrast (or perhaps reprieve) to the somber attitudes of its populace. But this is a view that often confounds Swedish people. The idea of Nordic carnality is notably absent in Mankell's work, as much a statement of its erroneous perception (Swedes do not see themselves as part of any sexual revolution at all) and in the case of Mankell ironic because the film director most responsible for advancing these explicit sexual parameters (for his time) was his own father-in-law the great Ingmar Bergman. In a world where Bergman moves in a universe where characters are dark, violent, extreme and aggressive - take note that the ultimate root of this bloody death and ennui lies in the Norse and Icelandic Viking sagas of Scandinavian history - that dark, somber view ascribed to both Mankell and Bergman's work was often a topic of intense jovial interest between these two artists. For any reader of Nordic crime fiction, Henning Mankell is an immensely popular and staple read. Enjoy! ...more |
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Sep 20, 2013
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Oct 16, 2013
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Sep 20, 2013
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 0805091297
| 9780805091298
| 0805091297
| 3.73
| 793
| Apr 24, 2012
| Sep 03, 2013
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really liked it
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Book Review Michael Gruber is not well known in general reading circles. His fan base is small as compared to other well known writers but it is a fier Book Review Michael Gruber is not well known in general reading circles. His fan base is small as compared to other well known writers but it is a fiercely loyal group. I am one of his readers. When I open a book written by Gruber I am confident that the star rating I will give it will be within the 4 or 5 star rating range: in other words, Michael Gruber is very consistent in the quality of books he writes. This does not mean that Gruber writes the same book twice, at least not since abandoning the Tanebaum project and with the possible exception of his Jimmy Paz trilogy (see below comments under "About the Author"). His subject matter is wide ranging: from art forgeries to English literatury treasure hunts; from Pakistani terrorists to Mexican cartels; onto his extraordinary Jimmy Paz detective trilogy Michael Gruber paints a fictional landscape that skirts the tip of the iceberg of what lies hidden in this author's highly intelligent mind. As one of his loyal fans (until he eviscerates my trust by writing a bad novel) I also know that whatever book I pick up there will be a fundamental question posed, a thematic question that appears in all of his novels. That interrogative is as follows: in objective reality what is the place of theology, the supernatural, mysticism, dogma if not religious fervor and how do we rationalize the apparent contradiction internally with the objective facts we know? And do it so it becomes believable to even the most logical dissenter of esoteric concepts. In his Jimmy Paz series, Santa Ria is refuted by a detective who to this point has only dealt with objective facts. In The Forger of Venus Gruber places the idea of reincarnation against drug induced hallucinations. Or perhaps we can turn to The Book of Air and Shadows where a man embarks on a voyage of self-discovery, lured by a 400 year old literary mystery. Another aspect that will be familiar to readers of Gruber's books is the idea of how the past supposes the present with the obvious result that you will likely be juxtaposed with settings taking place historically vs. settings taking place in the present. Everyone of his books accepts this model and unlike many authors who attempt this method to where it tends to distract the reader, with Gruber it is so relevant that the switch-backs are seemless to the point that the reader almost doesn't notice them. Not losing the reader, from an authorial perspective, is very difficult to do. The Return turns Gruber's focus to the conflict between Catholic theology and the waging of war. What is the place of ethics when engaged in a war? In this case, the historical setting is the Vietnam War: the current setting the Mexican narco cartel wars. Death, as is plainly evident from the book's slip cover is a fundamental theme throughout the book - though in this case it points specifically to the masks worn by Mexican villagers on their "Day of the Dead", a sort of truce and reprieve from the bloody violence as all arms are laid aside to honor the fallen on this day. But even this time tested day is challenged by Gruber when he asks: "What happens if the truce is not honored?" [image] The theme is concretized through the actions of our three main characters: Richard Marder, the father; Patric Skelly, the secretive army-buddy; and Statch, the daughter conflicted between her loyalty to both men. For Richard Marder, a quiet editor for a publication conglomerate, a man with nothing left to lose - a man driven by The Thing - the question becomes one of "what will give meaning to my last actions on this earth: is it redemption or is it revenge?" Gruber takes us on a fascinating tour-de-force through the complex maze of cultural heritage, religious ethics, two wars, and Marder's own profound guilt towards the death of his wife. At the occasion during which that woman had actually become the present ashes, Marder had impressed or dismayed his loved ones by his stoicism - not a sob from Marder at the crowded funeral service, not even when the casket had rolled through the curtain to the flames. Now he felt something collapse within him; his hands trembled around the urn, he found it hard to speak. He wondered if this was it: he would fall into fragments and Mr. Thing would pop and perhaps they could just leave him there at the cemetery with her, perhaps this was yet another of God's happy jests. [image] A Narco tank For Patrick Skelly, the security specialist, Marder's Vietnam war buddy and leader, this book and its dark voyage into the heart of the Mexican cartels is one of redemption. Skelly seeks the meaning of a survival that has no meaning and he thinks Marder can give him that answer. What he finds is something entirely different. "No, this is the truth. I have a shitty life. Plenty of money, a nice place, all the pleasures, and I feel like shit all the time, scared and looking for oblivion, but I can't look for oblivion, because that would make me less than sharp and that would kill me. And then I think, Oh, fuck, why not just die? But that doesn't feel right either. Marder would say it was because I don't have God, but I can't get my head around all that shit." And what of Statch the daughter, a brilliant engineer at MIT, a swimmer of almost Olympian status, torn between her mother and father, between a father and the survivor Skelly. Here Gruber uses the theme of water - perhaps an allusion to Catholicism's Holy Water - to cleanse the soul through a great struggle, to cleanse the soul of a torn, courageous, and beautiful young woman. Statch had never swum long distances in the sea before, but she'd thought it wouldn't matter, water was water, and salt water actually buoyed her up more than fresh, a slight advantage. [...]The water was more than eighty degrees, she estimated, but that was still a lot cooler than the human body. Every minute she spent in the water drained heat from her, which had to be cooked up from food or fat, but she was using too much energy for this to work properly, and in the middle of the tenth eight hundred meters, she felt the first stab of a cramp in her thigh.[...]The chill was starting to steal her mind, her body was resigning the struggle to regulate temperature, the cooking brain was beginning to generate fantasy. She stared at the sky. Polaris was in the wrong place, on her right, not her left. ------------------------------------------------------- About the author [image] Michael Gruber Are you a little bored with the conventional thriller but do you still get your entertainment from books, and are you the sort of reader that might read literary fiction but is often frustrated by the lack of a good "yarn" in such novels? Are you totally incensed at having to live in the "Cult of In-between" where your desire for the standards of literature that harbor questions posed in a serious way - questions surrounding the human condition - is in constant conflict with your craving for a good yarn; sadly consigned almost exclusively to thrillers that are formulaic and written in dull prose? Michael Gruber shares your sensibilities. It's not that he harbors the inability to write popular fiction. He's actually quite good at it. He is generally acknowledged to be the ghostwriter of the popular Robert K. Tanenbaum series of Butch Karp novels starting with No Lesser Plea and ending with Resolve. That partnership ended when Gruber realized that writing the same book over and over was boring. And as Gruber says: I'm not exactly bitching, had I stayed with that job I might be a Patricia Cornwell or a Clive Cussler by now, with seven-figure advances and the rest of that kind of life. On the subject of cults in fiction he clarifies the issue and defines it "as a writer with a relatively small number of passionately devoted fans, who never quite breaks into mass-market popularity." And it's true: since then, Michael Gruber has not written the same book twice. Otherness is a word Gruber frequently uses to describe the Cult of In-between. Having discarded popular fiction and with it its millions of followers and since "I don't do cute, and there goes another 70 million readers..." it seems to Gruber that he will never attain the sales of some of his fellow authors (though he once did arrive on the NYT best seller list). Perhaps with a movie this might change as there are cases where a cult readership arrives at popular readership via the exposure of a novel onto the silver screen. The novel, THE RETURN, (out since early September) would be an ideal vehicle for a couple of older male stars, and there's a nice ingenue role there as well. We shall see. I am pretty content with the cult as is, although I guess I could learn to like being fabulously wealthy too. ; Gruber's life reads like that of a Renaissance man. Born in NYC and a graduate of the public school system he earned a BA in English literature and after working for various small magazines in NY, he went back to City College and obtained a second BA degree in biology. Even that wasn't enough, following this he went to Miami and received a masters in marine biology. During his stint in the U.S. Army he served as a medic. In 1973 he received a Ph.D. in marine sciences, for his study of octopus behavior. Doing a 180 he worked as a chef in various NY restaurants, then he was a hippie, worked as a roadie for rock bands, was an analyst in Metropolitan Dade county, followed by the title of Director of Planning for HR; worked in D.C. in the Carter White House, Office of Science and Technology Policy; a policy analyst and speech writer for the EPA and was promptly promoted to Senior Executive Service of the U.S., the highest level of civil service. Only then did he begin writing fiction, mostly writing the novels for Robert K. Tanenbaum after having moved to Seattle. Michael Gruber is a brilliant author whose books not only serve up great prose (and as is so often the case nary a plot to go with it), but delivers on both: a plot that is brilliant, cleverly worked out, and simultaneously delving deeply into the human condition. This, while reading along in "page turning" mode. That is not easy to do :-) Michael Gruber is unique. I've only met a few that have read him, but he is an island unto his own: a brainy human being's thriller. ...more |
Notes are private!
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Sep 21, 2013
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Oct 16, 2013
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Sep 18, 2013
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Hardcover
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| 0241145368
| 9780241145364
| 0241145368
| 3.55
| 12,961
| 2011
| Mar 07, 2013
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liked it
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In the year 1955, the year that I was born, another man died. The dead man was named José Ortega y Gasset. For those who knew him, Gasset was a writer
In the year 1955, the year that I was born, another man died. The dead man was named José Ortega y Gasset. For those who knew him, Gasset was a writer of essays, a man of fashion often sporting a cigarette holder in his left hand. To ward of the Iberian sun he was often seen wearing a white straw hat sitting a touch high on his close cropped hair, as if the hat had been bought one size too small. His was the smile of a man who had seen too much; glittering eyes that had observed his country oscillate between monarchy, republicanism and dictatorship. His was the face of a man with ideas. José Ortega y Gasset at the time of his death had become known as a lecturer, professor and a prominent Spanish liberal philosopher: a proponent of the idea of Perspectivism and Existentialism. Gasset was to become very influential in forming the opinions, studies, and career of another man, a student, named Julián Marías. Spain had moved from Republicanism to civil war and onto Dictatorship under the rule of Generale Franco. The Spanish civil years were turbulent times. Many books have been written about it. And it is true that Marias was often associated with the Generation of'36 movement, the name given to a group of Spanish artists writers, poets and playwrights who were working about the time of the Spanish Civil War - the Generation of'36 movement was basically a literary movement that experienced harsh criticism and persecution arising from the rubble and smoke resulting from social instability and political chaos: these were the ingredients that fed the '36 movement and gave legitimacy to their existential philosophy. During this time, Julián wrote his dissertation on philosophy at which point his teachers handed over the document to the authorities and Marias was promptly thrown in jail by Franco. As a side note, my sister and Marias share that experience...though at the time some decades later, she was an anarchist. She too was surrounded by intellectuals, poets, and architects who formed communes within the streets of Madrid decrying Franco's regime but as is typical of anarchist, without really offering an alternative system. Nevertheless, after a brief stay in hotel Franco, Julián Marias continued his studies and became a philosopher in the footsteps of his teacher (Gasett). During this time he was to write his History of Philosophy, (1941) a treatise that is now widely accepted as perhaps the greatest work written in Spanish on the subject. Julián Marías had a son. Born as Javier Marías in 1951, Javier is known as a Spanish novelist, translator, and columnist. That son is the author of this book. [image] Javier Marías So, why the back story, you might ask? The Infatuations is after all a murder mystery. To answer this I have to take a small personal fork in the road, back to my time in Madrid, to my three month stay within the Anarchist commune where my sister lived. Relatively ignorant of European politics (I was living in America at the time) I stayed mostly silent during this visit and listened to political conversations that to this day has proven itself as the fountainhead of my own interest in politics. I was both shocked and enthralled by all of it: drugs, petty thefts, shoplifting, undercover computer operations, and trips to the country side where we took over abandoned villages for the weekend to build fires, eat wonderful meals; where we played music, made love and above all engaged in deep intellectual conversations that would last all night beneath the stars (perhaps only to be outdone by the intellectuals in Catalonia). And what I took away from it is this: when reading a Spanish author with such a philosophical pedigree it is best to know what you're getting into. And so we have our back story for this novel. Now what? Well, to a certain extent it is up to you, the reader, to decide through which prism you will read this novel. You will have to ask yourself some hard questions about the author and where his thoughts originate: did two generations of philosophers guide Javier's hand across his keyboard as he wrote this odd mystery novel? Or, did Javier's running away from Madrid to Paris indicate a refusal to absorb the thoughts of his elders? Your answer can lead to either the utmost in reader satisfaction, or to the supreme annoyance of finishing such a pretentious book you're pretty damned sure you don't want to read at all (let alone finish). In my best estimation you will have your answer as you approach 20% of the novel's contents (if not sooner). You should probably know a bit about Perspectivism and Existentialism (for without this knowledge that lends to your enjoyment of this book, you will undoubtedly become part of the latter group that throws the book in a rubbish bin). A small warning: this book is highly subjective. It is filled with pages that are Joycian in nature, run-on sentences that span pages without a paragraph in sight. In spite of the murder at the core of the novel, and diametrically opposed to the core element associated with the murder mystery genre, plot has been thrown out the door. On average, a single plot element appears at the beginning of each chapter at which point we delve into the mind of the unreliable narrator: Maria and we stay there throughout much of the novel: and I might add, in typical Perspectivism fashion. In fact, the entire plot of the novel can be summed up in a single paragraph. Javier is well aware of what he is doing and is not afraid to comment on it, or make some jabs aimed at himself. As Maria, the narrator ruminates about a conversation she is having with a murderer- subject being a Balzac novel - we have the following: "It's a novel, and once you've finished a novel, what happened in it is of little importance and soon forgotten." Perhaps he thought the same applied to real events, to events in our own lives. That's probably true for the person experiencing them, but not for other peop[le. Everything becomes a story and ends up drifting about in the same sphere, and then it's hard to differentiate between what really happened and what is pure invention. Everything becomes a narrative and sounds fictitious even if it's true. Did I mention Existentialism as being prominent? Or, how about Javier making fun of his own distinctive lack of plot? Everything that happens to us or that precedes us could be summed up in a couple of lines in a story. Well, you get the picture. Now why am I rating this with a reluctant 3 stars (2.5 is more accurate)? That is my province. I think a novel fails when it's style prevents readability (I have the same problem with Joyce) and it is a personal preference. I think that a novel that primarily consists of the thoughts of a narrator - and here I mean EVERY thought she has on any subject, plot element, or whatever...than you start getting the feeling of pretentiousness. I am well aware of the appeal this book might have to intellectuals who might enjoy seeing various philosophic ideas manifested in a novel...but, in my opinion, that is an art in itself, and prone to failure, as is the case with this novel. ...more |
Notes are private!
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Sep 10, 2013
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Sep 14, 2013
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Sep 09, 2013
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Hardcover
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| 0679745963
| 9780679745969
| 0679745963
| 3.92
| 7,588
| 1967
| Jun 29, 1993
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liked it
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Book Review As each Martin Beck novel in this series is presented with a foreword by a Scandinavian writer, and to have this novel's first gasp of brea Book Review As each Martin Beck novel in this series is presented with a foreword by a Scandinavian writer, and to have this novel's first gasp of breath written by none other than Jo Nesbo...well, it had to happen sooner orlater. It is fascinating to unravel the threads that tie authors to each other; tethered by influential strands like sticky spider webs authors learn from other authors. Through reading they learn to stand on their own; through writing they gain strength and conviction and as they take from what has been written they in turn become the source of what will be written. In this sense: originality is the art of hiding your source. [image] Jo Nesbo Artists stand on the shoulders of those who have come before. That is how it is whether they like it or not and whether they are aware of it or not." - Jo Nesbo I've recently been having some interesting conversations about a comparison between Henning Mankell's books featuring Kurt Wallander and this series. Some readers see Beck as the source behind Wallander and I'm sure that to an extent that is true: Henning Mankell freely admits that Maj and Per have had a remarkable influence on his own writing. Surprise often accompanies this discovery. Perhaps Kurt's character isn't as original as I'd thought, you might say. But then again, isn't that true of any source of inspiration? Jo Nesbo addresses this very question in his foreword: Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, beside writers such as Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Georges Simenon, have shaped the genre and the readers' expectations as to what crime fiction should be, the very starting point, ground zero, where all writers with the genre-defining label "crime novel" on the sleeve of their book begin communicating with the reader. Where they go from there is, of course, up to the individual. And, naturally, they can create something quite new. As Sjöwall and Wahlöö did. And so I asked myself: why does Wallander on the surface appear to be so similar to Beck? The first thing I observed when I started concentrating on Nordic and/or Scandinavian novels is the tone and style of the novels as can be attributed to Scandinavian writers in general. I was a bit puzzled by the seeming lack of Romanticism in the style of prose. The tone is matter-of-fact, slightly borish, almost written in a deterministic fashion, free of sensationalized emotional responses, and very straightforward (Ok, Peter Hoeg is an exception). It took a while for me to discover that the term that is applied to this style of writing, although somewhat dated,is called Literary Realism (and I had to get used to it!). Simply put, realist authors opt for depictions of everyday and banal activities and experiences, depictions of contemporary life and society as it is, without embellishment. Per and Maj wrote their novels in this style, and it works beautifully for the genre that was their focus: police procedurals. Again, Jo Nesbo acknowledges this realism as well: The story is real. Through objective eyes, the opening scene is a sober account, there is no drama, the atmosphere is not charged in any way. Within this context Martin Beck is characterized without much embellishment. Beck's life is carefully constructed around the work place: his personal life is dismissed (at least in so far that I've read this series). There is no deep introspection, no emotional outbursts, no passion per se and overall Beck isn't one to enjoy company and dislikes most people. There is the case and there is the resolution to the case and it all happens in strictly chronological fashion, much as in real life. But, it is easy to mistake the realism utilized by Per and Maj (in a sense this pair are purist in this sense), with the similar realism employed to a slightly lesser extent by most of today's Scandinavian writers and this similarity can carry over into the characters, causing them to appear similar...even when they are not. It took a reading of Frozen Moment (my review)to get that point across to me. Laying aside the stylistic similarities and some physical similarities (both can't sleep and suffer from bad health), Kurt Wallander often reflects on his personal life, is quite passionate about opera, falls in love easily, worries about his daughter, has ambivelence towards his ex-wife, struggles with his ailing father, possesses a mercurial attitude towards nature (as many Scandinavians do), he sometimes likes his colleagues and fosters a deep fondness for dogs. This is quite a contrast to what we see portrayed in Beck. It is rather confounding, if truth be told: this oscillation between these writers (Per and Maj vs. Henning). Some Per and Maj novels are just plain better than Henning's, and some Henning novels just outdo his mentors' output. So why did I give this novel 3 stars? And why go through the above explanation on Literary Realism? Because in the case of The Man on the Balcony, a novel based on a real 1963 event that happened in Stockholm, a novel that has as its focus the murder of children, I find the authors' realism employed to be distracting to the novel itself. The subject matter is emotionally charged to begin with and the matter-of-fact style serves to minimize the nature of these disturbing crimes. To a certain extent that's probably true in real police work, but this is fiction and it is rare to find an author that will take the risk of simply depicting events in such banal terms. The risk is that it won't work for the reader. At least not in this case. As to plot. Normally, Per and Maj hold a pedigree in plot: they are masters of it. But in this case there were no surprises and for me there is nothing more disturbing than for a reader to have the answer while Beck does not. "Idiot!" I exlaimed every other page or so. "It's right there before your eyes." Even for a police procedural where we do expect it to involve primarily police work, often mundane, as fiction it should hold a certain tension that carries the reader along. I found this notably absent in this particular novel. I know many Martin Beck afficianados will probably disagree, but...there you have it. ------------------------------------------------- Series Review [image] Per Wahlöö and Maj Sjöwall Two writers from the left, without too much argument, started it all where it concerns crime fiction in Scandinavia (the books were written in the sixties). Jo Nesbo considers this team of writers the Godfathers of Scandinavia crime fiction. Henning Mankell perhaps the most famous Nordic writer of them all often makes references to Per and Maj as having influenced his work. In the words of Barry Forsaw whose Death in a Cold Climate: a Guide to Scandinavian Crime Fiction serves as the Bible for Nordic readers says of these authors: "Their continuing influence (since the death of Per Wahlöö) remains prodigious." Briefly: Wahlöö was born in Tölö parish, Kungsbacka Municipality, Halland. After his studies, from 1946 onwards he worked as a crime reporter. After long trips around the world he returned to Sweden and started working as a journalist again. He had a 13 year relationship with his colleague Maj Sjöwall but never married. Both were Marxists.He has been married to Inger Wahlöö, née Andersson. He was brother to Claes Wahlöö. He died of cancer at Malmö in 1975, aged 48. His work (independent of his collaboration with Maj on the Martin Beck series) primarily consists of his Dictatorship series and the two novels featuring Inspector Jensen. Maj Sjöwall is a Swedish author and translator. She is best known for the collaborative work with her partner Per Wahlöö on a series of ten novels about the exploits of Martin Beck, a police detective in Stockholm. In 1971, the fourth of these books, The Laughing Policeman (a translation of Den skrattande polisen, originally published in 1968) won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Novel.They also wrote novels separately. Until recently, it was considered a scandal that publishing houses offered no translations of these two highly influential authors. But as the Nordic crime wave hit British and American soil (beginning in the nineties), this egregious blot on the reputation of publishers was finally remedied...albeit late in the game. There were simply too many crime writers that cited Per and Maj as the fountain head of the socially committed crime novel. Yet one more example that everything starts at the grass roots level and then filters up into the corporate halls of publishing. Although not as prevelant as in the work of Per Wahlöö (see my review of Murder on the Thirty-first Floor), the left wing ideological views of the pair are common knowledge and can be viewed as interspersed throughout their famous Martin Beck series. I've often spoken in my reviews of Nordic fiction that aside from being excellent and compelling reads in the mystery genre, Nordic writers on the whole use this genre based platform to comment on sociopolitical issues of the day as that takes place in the Scandinavian countries. For their time, this pair of authors were considered the pioneers of this authorial attitude. Now before you decide to forego this excellent series based on the Marxist ideology of its authors, let me assure you that Per and Maj's views at no point interfere with your appreciation of a good mystery novel. It might be said that their edgy point of view may be considered less important than the telling of a good tale. This too, is a hallmark of Scandinavian crime fiction: sociopolitical commentary never overshadows the story itself (though I would argue that in Per's novels written alone, this might not be the case). For an understanding of the realism of their work within Scandinavian crime fiction as married to their political attitudes, I highly recommend a reading of these two authors, together, as well as (in the case of Per) his own novels. ...more |
Notes are private!
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Sep 06, 2013
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Sep 17, 2013
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Sep 06, 2013
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Paperback
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| 0753827727
| 9780753827727
| 0753827727
| 3.47
| 709
| 2009
| May 01, 2011
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really liked it
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Book Review Imagine you are a 14th century artist. Your chickens are pecking around outside and you've harvested a few eggs. You carry the eggs to your Book Review Imagine you are a 14th century artist. Your chickens are pecking around outside and you've harvested a few eggs. You carry the eggs to your studio. Then you crack an egg, carefully cull the egg yolk from the egg white, being careful not to puncture the thin membrane keeping it together. You carefully pierce the yolk and allow it to drain into a ceramic container. You've ground your pigment to a fine powder and carefully create a mixture comprised of water, yolk and pigment powder. You have before you the gesso'd board and begin painting, taking excruciating hours to finely hone the image made up of egg tempera. Days later, it is done and you dry the image for a few weeks. You view your progress in northern light, in sun light, in the light of an oil lamp. You stand back, you move forward, changing your perspective often. Following this, all the while building the final image up in your mind first, barely able to sleep while you are fastened to the gesso board, you glaze the egg tempera under painting so it can accept oil paints. The process is meticulous, intriguing, slow but steady. The glaze dries, you carefully sand away any dust that has settled and now you begin applying very thin glazes of transparent oils, glazing each layer before you begin the next transparent layer. Months later, the painting is done, brilliant, like an old Kodachrome slide. Durable (it'll last centuries because of the meticulous process). The painting is part of you...forever. This is what reading a Camilla Ceder novel is like. The materials lie before you: a crime, rural settings, various people, and psychological motivations. It is up to you to put the pieces together. The pages are voluminous. A thin image of what the result is like is placed at the beginning: the crime. You meet a person and you apply the brush of knowledge and motivations to them...one at a time, carefully, not too fast, multi-layered, if you will. You paint in the background with a hint of chilling mystical physical qualities. You play with time, with cause and effect, allowing each layer of the novel to dry before moving on to the next. You are a scientist posing as a policeman and you give yourself the name of Christian Tell. You are an artist parasitically inserting yourself inside Maya, inside Seja, and inside Caroline and you paint these women with quite different colors, pigments you have ground yourself from very different sources and place them next to each other in the painting. You are Ake Melkersson, the stranger who stumbles across a man's body behind a barn, an intense, shocking experience that causes you to step back from the painting and shudder. And as the first exposition and characterizations are laid down as foundation, you have a good idea of what the painting will look like. But that is not what is important. What is important is that you are wholly engaged in the meticulous process of constructing the painting. This is Camilla Ceder...at work. [image] Gothenburg, Sweden The first in the Christian Tell series, Frozen Moment brings to readers the work of a newcomer on the Scandinavian crime writer front: Camilla Ceder. Ceder's story takes place in and around the desolate areas surrounding the town of Gothenburg, Sweden. It begins, characteristically with a crime. But, this is so much more than a cime novel. This is a story of social breakdown. Undeniably, Scandinavian writers are obsessed with the meltdown that occurs between parents and their children, and consequently the horrors that take place between these lost children who are given a welfare state as parents. It is a story of psychopaths that emerge from state sponsorship and deviant fathers and mothers. It is a story of jealousy, cowardice, and hapless neglect and you give it the name Sebastian. It is a story of utter loneliness in a frozen landscape patrolled by Christian Tell, our enigmatic detective called out to the initial crime scene. What he discovers is the body of a man shot in the head and then flattened repeatedly by an overweight automobile until every bone in the victim's body is crushed (not a plot spoiler, the story begins as such). And the first thing Tell asks himself is: why? And so we enter the realm of Camilla Ceder. Asking why, is the reason she became a crime author. If you are comfortable with a slow burn. If you are patient and enjoy reading people, and find yourself interested in the means to an end, than this book is for you. Camilla will paint for you an exquisite painting. Enjoy! -------------------------------------------- Series Review My interest in Scandinavian crime fiction really got started as I began reading Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series. I'd heard of Nesbo but never gave the books a second thought, considered him to be "translated" crime fiction and let's face it, I was at the time delving through various American crime and thriller authors that just never end. Who was this guy? An economist? An upfront man for the band Di Derre? And now a writer? Nesbo stopped me dead in my tracks. [image] Nesbo's band Di Derre I'd never really read any crime fiction from this region of the world. All I really knew about Scandinavia is that supposedly, it's a region that's been fairly successful in implementing democratic socialism and its inevitable resultant welfare state. Scandinavians I imagined were tall, blond, sexually enlightened, peaceful, not prone to crime, and progressive towards many societal aspects with which the rest of the world continually struggles. That was a while back. Since then I've been on a very interesting journey, just baby steps at this point - a journey that has taken me back to the sixties with Per and Maj's 10 police procedural series featuring Martin Beck, fast forwarding to the nineties where I encountered Henning's Wallander series and Hoeg's Smilla's Sense of Snow and his troubling Borderliners, and again fast forwarding a few decades to this relative newcomer on the Scandinavian crime scene: Camilla Ceder. [image] Camilla Ceder I am in the grip of these writers, under their thumb, so to speak. They are making hand gestures, tempting me, inviting me for a behind the scenes look at this supposedly benevolent Scandinavian mirage I've upheld all these years: inviting me not towards a benevolent lightness of being but into the dark abyss that lies behind the facade. What I've discovered is that there are essentially two kinds of crime writers in Sweden. The first concentrates the novel in the more populated southern and central portion of the country, often eschewing the far north and it's lonely frozen wooded landscapes, if not the more desolate shorelines. Crime and urbanity seem to go hand-in-hand with these writers. The prose is more of a police procedural, with external perspectives, stylistically "harder", and linear with less dialogue than perhaps what we as Americans have come to expect. And then there are the writers who set their novels in the more rural and sparsely populated settings, lending a decidedly chill atmosphere to the stories (the Swedish have an almost mystical attitude towards wooded areas and trees). Camilla Ceder is a writer that almost certainly belongs in this second group, at least where it concerns her first novel (her novels are primarily set in the social and mental mechanisms of Gothenburg). But, let's let Ceder speak: "I am unquestionably influenced by my environment. [...] My books are set in different locations. The first book took place almost entirely in rural areas, while my second book was largely set in a city environment. I think that in many cases the Scandinavian crime novel has psychosocial undertones in which it is possible to highlight the loneliness and vulnerability of individuals within our society, a society which has otherwise been depicted (at least in part) as a prosperous utopia, an ideal society." As a social worker herself (she's not entirely abandoned her "day job") the stories Ceder concocts are often multi-layered studies of human motivations. What interests Ceder is not the discovery of who committed the crime - in fact, in one sense there are few surprises in her novels - but to study the cause and effect as seen from different perspectives. To say that her novels are in this sense "substantial" would be an understatement. "As for the motivation of my characters, my particular area when I write is often discerning people's reasons for the things they do. Why we do what we do, how we choose to deal with our lives and why; communication, interpersonal relations - these things are crucial. My interest in the factors that push a person into committing violent acts is actually what made me choose to write crime fiction." ...more |
Notes are private!
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Aug 28, 2013
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Sep 06, 2013
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Aug 28, 2013
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| 3.95
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it was amazing
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Jan 25, 2014
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Jan 11, 2014
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| 4.23
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really liked it
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not set
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Jan 11, 2014
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| 4.21
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really liked it
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not set
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Jan 11, 2014
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| 4.21
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really liked it
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not set
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Jan 11, 2014
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| 4.06
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it was amazing
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Jan 07, 2014
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Jan 01, 2014
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| 4.20
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really liked it
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Jan 04, 2014
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Dec 24, 2013
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| 3.57
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really liked it
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not set
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Nov 12, 2013
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| 3.61
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really liked it
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Nov 29, 2013
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Nov 12, 2013
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| 3.21
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it was amazing
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Nov 12, 2013
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Nov 05, 2013
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| 3.45
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liked it
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Dec 23, 2013
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Nov 01, 2013
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| 4.16
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really liked it
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Nov 2013
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Nov 01, 2013
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| 4.28
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it was amazing
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Oct 29, 2013
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Oct 27, 2013
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| 3.88
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really liked it
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Oct 26, 2013
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Oct 26, 2013
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| 3.45
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really liked it
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Nov 07, 2013
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Oct 21, 2013
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| 4.01
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really liked it
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Oct 05, 2013
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Oct 05, 2013
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| 3.87
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liked it
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Oct 16, 2013
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Sep 20, 2013
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| 3.73
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really liked it
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Oct 16, 2013
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Sep 18, 2013
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| 3.55
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liked it
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Sep 14, 2013
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Sep 09, 2013
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| 3.92
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liked it
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Sep 17, 2013
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Sep 06, 2013
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| 3.47
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really liked it
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Sep 06, 2013
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Aug 28, 2013
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